Tiger Technology in Bulgaria: Microsoft Azure Archive Storage Partner

Tiger Technology Management, LLC, maker of Tiger Bridge, has made it to the list of managed Microsoft Azure Archive Storage Partners.

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Tiger Bridge is a software connector that enables any Microsoft server to integrate Azure Blobs as an active tier of its local storage infrastructure. This efficient approach lets on-prem users and applications gain transparent access to and work with files that are stored in the cloud.

“Given the large number of software companies working towards facilitating the adoption of cloud storage within corporate data centers,” said Alexander Lefterov, CEO, Tiger Technology “we are thrilled to see Microsoft recognizing the forward looking, strategic, and unique value Tiger Bridge brings to the Azure eco-system.”

Tiger Bridge extends a server’s live NTFS volume(s) into the cloud. Unlike cloud gateway server technology, it does not require data centers to interact with a new and distinct mount point. It thereby overcomes one of the main objections raised by organizations that are reluctant to modify their established data flow.

“Traditional cloud gateway solutions put unnecessary stress and burden on IT personnel, as someone must still figure what, when and how data should be moved from existing application servers to the cloud,” states Nikola Apostolov, director of sales, Tiger Technology. “Tiger Bridge relies on simple policies to automate the data movement between the application server’s local drive and the various Hot, Cold and Archive tiers of the Azure cloud.“

Using lifecycle management policies, Tiger Bridge enables the local storage infrastructure to scale-deep (i.e. towards archive). Stale files can automatically be substituted with stub-files in order to free up local space. When stub files are accessed, data is automatically retrieved from the appropriate cloud tier. As such, a local drive of a few terabytes can provide users and applications access to petabytes of tiered data, eliminating the need to provision additional local storage.

Tiger Bridge also enables organization to more easily mine their valuable data, something other gateway servers do not allow. By storing data in a non-opaque form, it allows it to be manipulated within the cloud by a variety of software services. Data processing, mining and analysis can be readily performed using tools such as Machine Learning, HDInsight, Azure Data Lake, PowerBI, etc. Organizations can learn from behaviors and detect patterns using platforms such as Cloudera, Hortonworks, and Informatica.

Some practical examples of supported cloud processing include:

Machine learning to scan PII data
Transcoding of video files into multiple resolutions
Media services to perform QC on recorded content
Data mining and analytics for predicting customer behaviors
Cognitive services to detect mood, age, gender, etc.
Biometrics processing (fingerprints, faces, etc).
Image and voice recognition
Analysis of logs to detect intrusions and security threats

A case study for the possibilities of Tiger Bridge is its deployment at NAVA. They must maintain fast on-prem storage to ingest and then perform noise and scratch removal as well as color correction at the highest possible resolution on a huge collection of film and video material. After treatment, media files are pushed to the Azure cloud, where they are transcoded into multiple resolutions and streamed around the world. This way Tiger Bridge lets editors maintain easy access to the entire library of archived material through their local drive.

Tiger Bridge version 2.0 is shipping and is available through a network of authorized resellers.