A Brief History of FreeStor – Evolution of Open-Source Storage Solutions

Introduction

FreeStor has been a significant name in the world of software-defined storage (SDS). Originally designed as a unified storage management platform, FreeStor simplified backup, recovery, and data mobility across multi-vendor environments.

In this article, we’ll explore a brief history of FreeStor, its evolution, and its influence on modern enterprise data protection solutions.

Although the term "software-defined storage" only began to gain popularity in the storage industry around 2015, FreeStor's birth and technological evolution actually spanned over a decade, long before the concept of "software-defined storage" even emerged. In fact, the company had already been practicing "software-defined storage" for more than ten years prior and has consistently adhered to the "software-defined" philosophy while innovating for the past fifteen years.

📌 According to FalconStor’s archives, FreeStor was one of the first platforms to fully embrace storage virtualization.

To discuss FalconStor's history, one must mention ARCserve. ARCserve was the world's first client/server architecture backup software, launched by Cheyenne Software, and it dominated the backup software market in the 1990s. It's worth recalling that ARCserve began selling hotly in China in 1996. At that time, Veritas had just acquired OpenVision and was still figuring out how backup worked (has anyone ever wondered why NetBackup's installation directory is called /usr/openv?). BackupExec, under Seagate, could only rely on Microsoft's shadow to operate guerrilla-style, and Commvault had just been founded without any products yet. This client/server architecture remains the fundamental framework for nearly all backup software on the market even today. After Cheyenne Software was acquired by Computer Associates (CA), ARCserve continued to shine in the market for several more years, steadily holding over 40% market share—until the core R&D team left CA around 1999-2000 to establish FalconStor Software.

As a side note: after losing this team, ARCserve's market position declined sharply. Veritas/Symantec gradually took over as the market leader, and CA never recovered in the backup field until ARCserve spun off from CA last year—it remains to be seen if it can make a comeback. Those familiar with this history may note that, to this day, a significant proportion of FalconStor employees—from the CEO down to staff at various levels in countries including China—have Cheyenne or CA experience on their resumes. From this perspective, FalconStor Software can indeed be described as a team with tradition and history.

Only storage veterans have seen this old ARCserve software box.

IPStor: The Earliest "Software-Defined Storage"

When FalconStor Software was founded in 2000, its first product, IPStor, was "software-defined storage." The main use of IPStor was to install the IPStor software on a standard x86 server, turning it into a storage virtualization gateway. It connected upward via IP networks (later switching to FC, and adding iSCSI as it emerged) to all application servers, and downward via FC and SCSI (gradually incorporating iSCSI and FCoE later) to all disk arrays. This architecture enabled the integration of heterogeneous storage and remote connectivity over IP networks, while also providing various advanced management features.

The concept behind IPStor was absolutely ahead of its time. Looking back to the turn of the century in 2000, not only was "software-defined storage" unheard of, but even the concept of storage virtualization didn't exist. VMware had just been born not long before, and server virtualization was only possible on UNIX and mainframes.

It was precisely because it was too far ahead of its time that, although it caused a major stir and discussion within technical circles, IPStor was somewhat "born at the wrong time." At that time, corporate data volumes and the number of storage devices were far less than today, so the demand for heterogeneous storage integration wasn't strong. Additionally, IP network performance wasn't high back then, making the idea of integrating storage over IP networks seem too radical. Furthermore, FalconStor's capabilities in market promotion and sales lagged significantly behind its competitors. For these reasons, IPStor's market reception wasn't ideal.

"Software-Defined Backup Appliances" and "Software-Defined Disaster Recovery"

Nevertheless, IPStor remains a technically advanced platform. Building on IPStor, FalconStor integrated tape virtualization and management functions and was a pioneer in implementing deduplication technology, leading to the launch of its Virtual Tape Library (VTL) software. FalconStor's VTL software was once extremely popular, forming partnerships with most major storage vendors, including EMC, IBM, HP, HDS, as well as domestic companies like H3C, Huawei, and Tongyou, all of which OEM'd FalconStor's VTL technology. Combined, they once held over 50% of the market share. From today's perspective, FalconStor's VTL can actually be seen as a precursor to "software-defined backup appliances" or "software-defined deduplication."

FreeStor: Modern "Software-Defined Storage"

The reason we've discussed so much history is that IPStor is the predecessor of FreeStor, while CDP and VTL can be considered "derivative products" born from the same roots. In fact, FreeStor was developed as version 8.0 of IPStor. Therefore, IPStor's foundational architecture and design philosophy have been well preserved. Meanwhile, the various test results from IPStor, VTL, and CDP—especially regarding compatibility—remain largely valid. Thus, compared to other software-defined storage technologies and products on the market, FreeStor's advantage lies in its thousands of active users, meaning its stability and compatibility have been thoroughly proven, making it more mature in many aspects. FreeStor's slogan, "Fifteen Years of Software-Defined," is genuinely well-deserved.

Compared to the previous IPStor, FreeStor has undergone numerous improvements that fully justify the rebranding. The main enhancements in FreeStor include:

• 1) Significantly improved performance to meet the demands of emerging flash media;
• 2) Greatly enhanced scalability and parallel read/write capabilities;
• 3) Added support for OpenStack;
• 4) Designed a more user-friendly interface;
• 5) Switched to a usage-based pricing model.

With these improvements, FreeStor can finally be said to have been completely transformed.

We believe that FreeStor will carry forward and enhance IPStor's software-defined storage philosophy and achieve even greater success. This is because today's enterprise users face more complex storage architectures and more pronounced heterogeneous management challenges compared to fifteen years ago. Even with a single-vendor procurement strategy, the integration of heterogeneous systems remains difficult, especially with the addition of flash arrays. At the same time, storage costs have become a more pressing issue, and the strategy of continuously expanding existing high-end storage arrays is facing serious challenges. In response to these issues, FreeStor can break vendor lock-in, optimize storage resources, and improve the cost-performance ratio of the entire storage architecture—all while ensuring performance. It also enhances manageability, high availability, scalability, and provides comprehensive backup and disaster recovery mechanisms.

Conclusion

The history of FreeStor reflects the shift from proprietary storage systems to software-defined, vendor-neutral solutions. By introducing centralized management, efficient replication, and hybrid capabilities, FreeStor helped shape today’s enterprise storage landscape.

Organizations continue to benefit from its pioneering ideas, which paved the way for modern data mobility and storage virtualization.

👉 Related reading: VMware Backup Best Practices