Gen-i has released pricing for its EasiArchive "serverless archiving" system, which it says is far less complex than hierarchical server management.
EasiArchive will be priced on a per-workstation per-month basis. Up to 500 workstations costs $2.50 a workstation a month and the price decreases over 500 workstations. The price covers support and upgrades.
EasiArchive, which was initially developed for a client by 12 people over eight months, can sit on any computer on the network and archive to any network share. Gen-i is running it on a web server.
Lead developer Greg Hanna says the company wanted to develop a system that didn't drain file server resources. The alternative, hierarchical server management, is a more complex option, he says.
EasiArchive was developed in the .Net framework using Visual Studio.Net, using C#. Microsoft's latest development language allows mistakes to be easier pinpointed and is object-oriented, Hanna says. This makes it more extensible in future to technology such as tape drives or CD jukeboxes.