Discover Tiger technology. It provides a multi-cloud hybrid file namespace for Windows servers and enables space-saving file tiering from on-premises servers to cheaper file and object stores with ancillary benefits of backup, archive, file synchronization, business continuity and DR.
Tiger Technology is a 50-person storage company based in Sofia, Bulgaria, with offices in the US and UK. It was launched in 2003 by founder and CEO Alexander Lefterov. He saw that Windows Server data sharing could be improved, both for SANs and files, by manipulating metadata. The company’s MetaSan software product evolved into Tiger Store, which enables on-premises file sharing. Tiger Pool combines multiple volumes into a single pool, and Tiger Spaces enables file sharing between workgroup members.
Then a Tiger Bridge product was developed as a cloud storage gateway and tiering product. Before we get to that, let’s note that there are two rack-level hardware products, the Tiger Box Appliance and the Tiger Server Metadata Controller. Both come with Tiger Store and can have Pool, Spaces and Bridge software added.
Tiger Bridge is a Windows Server kernel-level file system filter driver. It monitors a set of on-premises files and can move files with low access rates to cheaper storage to save primary storage capacity. Files are selectively moved based on configurable policies and their metadata remains on-premises in so-called stub files.
When a user or application needs to access them, they are retrieved from their destination storage transparently to the requesting entity. Tiger Bridge implements a single namespace on the source Windows server and destination storage, using an NTFS over HTTPS/SSL extension that adheres to Active Directory ACLs for access control.
Destination systems can be on-premises NAS filing cabinets, tape libraries and object stores (S3), Fujifilm Object Archive, and hot, cold, and archive object stores in clouds AWS, Azure , Google and IBM. Wasabi OEM cloud storage provider Tiger Bridge and Tiger Bridge also support Seagate Lyve Cloud and are compatible with Veeam Backup and Replication.
File data is replicated to destination systems and policies can be set so that active files are replicated whenever changes are made. This provides a cross-site file synchronization mechanism for file sharing scenarios and also for disaster recovery. A failed source file server can be restored to a remote site using replicated files. The file folder system can be set up almost instantly, using metadata, and then the file data is pushed in the background to the new server. All files directly accessible before being played are pulled to the head of the queue and played at the same time.
Lefterov says that while Tiger Bridge can be used for cloud migration, its main purpose is to enable on-premises file-based workloads to extend to the cloud, using its elastic and affordable capacity, without modify workflow procedures.
Tiger Tech has a list of thousands of clients, many of them in the media and entertainment market. It provides Tiger Bridge as a way for them to integrate the scalable capability and relatively low cost of the cloud into their on-premises workflows with little or no change.
A specific version of the software, Surveillance Bridge, was designed to store video files in the cloud with their stubs on the video server for quick search and identification.
Bridge software is available through subscription and term contracts.
Competetion
Tiger Technology’s competitors include Komprise, which eschews stub file technology, preferring its own dynamic linking software, and providing a layered analytical software package. Another contender is Data Dynamics and its file virtualization software StorageX, and we should also include Rubrik with its unstructured Igneous Data-Management-as-a-Service acquisition.
Finally, let’s mention Cohesity DataPlatform and its SmartFiles prioritization technology. They are four strong contenders, so Lefterov’s Tiger needs a powerful software roar to progress against them.
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