Caringo Unveils CAStor File System Gateway.

CAStor FSG Brings Third-Generation Content Addressed Storage to ISVs and SIs

Enables Instant Implementation Through Familiar CIFS/NFS Network Protocols

AUSTIN, Texas -- Content addressed storage (CAS) pioneers and innovators Caringo, Inc., today announced the CAStor[TM] File System Gateway (FSG), providing Systems Integrators and Independent Software Vendors a simple way to deploy a CAS architecture for business-critical applications.

CAStor FSG opens up a new market opportunity by providing CAS functionality through standard file interfaces at price points that were unachievable prior to Caringo's introduction of CAStor software. CAStor FSG provides a quick way to begin implementing CAStor, requiring no code, no changes to existing applications, and no complex integration. CAStor FSG runs on a server of a standard x86-based commodity hardware platform and connects to the CAStor Cluster via standard Gigabit Ethernet. CAStor FSG is fully multi-threaded and uses connection pooling to maximize throughput to and from the CAStor Cluster. Additional CAStor FSG nodes can easily be added to provide more access points into CAStor, allowing massive parallel scalability - another industry first.

"The benefits of CAS are best realized in vertical areas where there are industry-specific business applications generating the bulk of the content, such as medical imaging, security camera footage, newspaper archives, voice and email messages and check image storage, for example, yet many existing applications require legacy file systems using local disks, NAS or SAN," said Mark Goros, Caringo CEO. "With CAStor FSG, we're enabling application providers to deploy and integrate CAStor easily, creating a lower overall cost of ownership, freedom from vendor-proprietary CAS hardware, and increased margins for our partners."

CAStor FSG enables admins to set policies, permissions, and constraints for fixed content to meet internal goals and/or to assure regulatory compliance. Once these policies are configured, CAStor transparently monitors data and enforces these policies, ensuring the correct number of replicas for a particular file, verifying file lifecycle information and managing secure deletion. A multi-threaded, client pooling architecture provides impressive throughput and scalability.

CAStor FSG redefines flexibility, enabling any application that works with a CIFS/NFS file system to connect to CAStor, and provides various 'views' into the content store. Classic file system mapping provides a virtual file system front end to CAStor that users can access through standard network file systems and protocols. Unix/Linux users can mount CAStor FSG as a network drive via NFS. Windows users can map a Windows network drive via CIFS (the CAStor Cluster looks like a Windows file system). Mac OS X users can do both. Once the fixed content and reference information has been stored in CAStor it can be accessed directly through Simple Content Storage Protocol (SCSP) (CAStor's HTTP 1.1 subset) using the UUID's stored in the database, or as files in a regular file system. This allows for phased migration strategies to a native CAStor interface and all the benefits derived.

Additional Features of CAStor FSG include:

* A standard MySQL database already configured and ready to use

* Full support for Oracle databases

* High availability for databases and other critical apps through easy mirroring

* Easy database querying to discover information such as the file name, the UUID mapped to the file, last access, last modification, permissions, file size and type and the user ID

* Standalone operation or integration with existing user directories using standard authentication methods such as Active Directory/Kerberos

* Straightforward administration and reporting capabilities

CAStor FSG will be available as a Beta version in early November. Qualified partners should email [e-mail] for more information about the Caringo solution partners program.

About Caringo

Caringo, Inc. has re-imagined content addressed storage software from the ground up. CAStor is third-generation technology that leverages the customer's choice of commodity hardware to dramatically improve the scope and economics of corporate fixed content storage. Caringo founders operate according to Einstein's belief that "Things should be made as simple as possible." Rather than make CAS complex and expensive, Caringo makes it affordable, scalable, fast and easy. More information can be found at www.caringo.com.

Caringo and CAStor are trademarks of Caringo, Inc. Other companies and products mentioned herein may be trademarks or trade names of their respective owners.