Reliance™

The File System for Rapid Development of Reliable Products

Highly Reliable, Fast, Secure, and Easy to Integrate

Reliance is an Embedded File System

Reliance is an embedded file system for products running any 32- Key Benefits of Reliance
bit operating system including Accelerated Technology’s Nucleus » Eliminates file system-related data loss
Software, Microsoft Windows CE, and Wind River VxWorks. In
fact, Datalight’s Reliance is the only embedded file system specifically » Lowers warranty costs related to file issues
designed for use with embedded devices that operate in environments » Decreases downtime traced to file problems
where power loss may occur.
» Offers a more secure method of saving data
Reliance is Highly Reliable
Reliance keeps track of the last known, good state of both the file
system’s metadata (i.e. directories) as well as user data (i.e. saved based system cannot read the data. When Windows desktop
files). Reliance updates information to memory at user-settable exchangeability is important, both Reliance and a FAT-based file
transaction points. If power is interrupted between the time that system can be integrated into a device.
Reliance committed the last set of file system updates to disk (at
the last transaction point) and the time that Reliance commits the
next set of file system updates to disk (at the subsequent transaction Reliance is Easy to Integrate and Test
point), Reliance “rolls back” to the last known good state. With its The Reliance User’s Guide details how to integrate Reliance into
transaction-based approach, Reliance offers the user an “always any 32-bit development environment including that of Nucleus
consistent” file system. (Accelerated Technology), Platform Builder (Microsoft®), or Tornado
(Wind River). Reliance is a “drop in” replacement for the native file
system and can be built into the bootable images. After building an
Reliance is Fast
image, a developer configures Reliance to work with specific block
Reliance is more efficient than journaling or logging file systems.
devices such as flash memory, hard drives or RAM drives. Other
With Reliance, saved data is preserved until the next transaction point
Reliance configuration parameters include the disk partition size,
occurs. At the time of a transaction point, new data is written to a
block size, file size, and transaction point settings.
new area on the storage media. The transaction is atomic so that if a
power interruption occurs, the file system will still have the last saved
data available. About Datalight
Datalight provides fault-tolerant storage software to manufacturers
And, since the state-of-the-art Reliance file system is always consistent,
who need to prevent data loss in their devices or equipment. Our
there is no need for a chkdsk utility or to check the integrity of the
customers have found that our 20+ years of delivering embedded
file system at boot time—allowing Reliance to offer a fast boot time
software is the most reliable and secure way to reduce the
compared to the native FAT-file system.
expense of product returns and decrease downtime—increasing
customer satisfaction.
Reliance is Secure
Reliance offers a proprietary media format that enhances the security
of saved data. A device that supports Reliance can read user data that
is saved on Reliance-formatted media; however, a standard Windows-
 Reliance

Reliance Software Development Kit Datalight’s Reliance™ File System Prevents Data Loss for
The Reliance Software Development Kit includes the ANSI C Hypercom® Electronic Payment Terminals
source for Reliance, a Developer’s Guide, an API reference, sample
applications and tools for using Reliance. Custom tools include The Challenge
utilities to test a Reliance formatted drive.
Widely recognized as the global payment technology leader,
Hypercom delivers electronic payment solutions for merchants and
Reliance Specifications financial institutions. Hypercom recently moved its base terminal
technology from an 8-bit CPU, proprietary OS platform to a 32-
Target System hardware Resident flash memory and 70 KB RAM (typical) bit XScale, Nucleus OS platform. While testing the terminal’s
Development system Windows 32 host; 4 MB of disk space for Reliance; ability to withstand power outages, the development team found
hardware sufficient RAM for development tools file system problems, including files and folders disappearing and
Supported media Flash memory, RAM, and rotating disk incorrect file attributes. This issue put Hypercom at risk of losing
sales due to unacceptable field failure rates.
Tested resident flash Tested with Datalight FlashFX Pro, FlashFX
software To solve the problem and ensure low field failure rates, the team
started writing a chkdsk utility for Nucleus, but abandoned the
In-system memory space 45 KB to 65 KB (nominal)
effort because of time to market pressure and the realization that
Media volume size Each partition (or disk) can be scaled from 64 KB - 2 TB they did not have sufficient in-house expertise. They also decided
File size To 4 GB (depending on OS) against using an open source file system; the time it would take to
Directory size To 4 GB (depending on OS) port a Linux program to Nucleus would not allow them to get their
new product certified on schedule.
Block size Selectable as 128 bytes, 512 bytes, 1 KB, 2 KB, 4 KB, 8
KB, 16 KB, 32 KB, and 64 KB
The Datalight Solution
Transaction settings Event-based (i.e. directory create) or manual (i.e.
IOCTL or API-based) or timed (depending on OS) Datalight Reliance is a fault-tolerant transactional file system for
embedded devices. Based on the concept of transaction points,
FREE source evaluation FREE source evaluation allows developers to integrate Reliance ensures that file systems are always in a valid state.
Reliance into their device and transact up to 10,000 Unlike FAT-based file systems, Reliance was specifically designed
times. for devices that operate in environments where system crashes or
A Datalight source code agreement is required. power interruptions may occur.
Datalight worked closely with Hypercom to implement Reliance
Support and Licensing into a prototype system. Joint testing proved that Reliance securely
preserved electronic payment information and other critical data,
Datalight offers support and maintenance contracts for Reliance for even if power was lost or the system crashed.
Microsoft CE. These annual contracts include technical support as
well as updates and releases for Reliance.
The Customer Payoff
Datalight offers an OEM license agreement for customers that
By dropping Datalight Reliance into their design rather than trying
manufacture embedded devices using Reliance.
to develop their own fault-tolerant file system, Hypercom’s new
electronic payment terminals got to market much faster with an
existing proven technology. The cost of implementing Reliance was
offset by the faster time to market achieved by the development
team. Now Hypercom’s merchant and financial customers enjoy
the new line of Optimum terminals with better security, more
graphics features, and faster performance.

Datalight, Inc. Telephone +1(425) 951.8086

21520 30th Drive SE, Suite 110 Toll-free +1(800) 221.6630
Bothell, WA 98021 Fax +1(425) 951.8095
USA URL www.datalight.com

Copyright © 2005, Datalight, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A. DATALIGHT, the Datalight Logo, FlashFX, Reliance and ROM-DOS are trademarks
or registered trademarks of Datalight, Inc. All other product names are trademarks of their respective holders. Specification and price change privileges reserved.
February 28, 2005