FalconStor announced today it has been named a leader in “The Forrester Wave: Enterprise Open Systems Virtual Tape Libraries, Q1 2008.” FalconStor was cited for its total product offering and strategy of the FalconStor Virtual Tape Library.

In the report, Forrester Analyst Stephanie Balaouras wrote, “FalconStor has a comprehensive offering that scored well in all criteria in the study and in key areas of differentiation such as de-duplication, tape management, replication, and global management. Its VTL offering is built on its IPStor platform, which enables not only VTL, but snapshots, continuous data protection, and IP-based replication. Because all of its data protection offerings are based on a common technology framework, it has the ability to provide a unified console for data protection and create one common deduplication repository.”

Forrester evaluated 12 virtual tape library vendors across 58 criteria and found that FalconStor Software “leads for the completeness of its product offering and strategy.” Forrester’s rigorous Wave methodology assesses the strengths and weaknesses of each vendor’s solution using lab evaluations, questionnaires, demos and discussions with client references. The final scores generate the graphical depiction of the market based on current offering, strategy, and market presence. The survey evaluated FalconStor’s most recent release of the FalconStor Virtual Tape Library Enterprise Edition.

“FalconStor has been delivering customers the most complete VTL solutions for over four years. With a sizable share of the market and more than 4000 customers worldwide, the FalconStor VTL is a highly flexible and scalable VTL solution that provides the enterprise-wide data de-duplication, offsite replication, and seamless tape integration capabilities today’s businesses demand,” said Wayne Lam, Vice President at FalconStor. “We’re pleased to receive this independent recognition as a VTL leader by Forrester Research based on the strength of our product and our overall strategy in the VTL marketplace.”

The FalconStor VTL Enterprise Edition is tightly integrated with FalconStor’s clustered de-duplication technology, Single Instance Repository (SIR), and leverages the company’s TOTALLY Open IPStor architecture to enable strategic and channel partners to implement FalconStor VTL as a Linux or Solaris appliance or as a Virtual Appliance under VMware by utilizing state-of-the-art connectivity (4Gb FC, 10Gb Ethernet or 20Gb InfiniBand) and disk arrays (SATA, SAS, FC, MAID) to meet the diverse demands of enterprise customers.