Managing data growth continues to be a top priority for IT, as estimates show that the average annual growth rate of data is 60%.
Quantum Africa Country Manager, Rudi Jansen van Vuuren, says tape is still the best solution for long-term data retention due to its low total cost of ownership over a multi-year timeframe.
Quantum is the leading global specialist in backup, recovery and archive and has launched a new enterprise tape library. “This uniquely designed solution meets the challenges of the high data growth while facilitating tape consolidation in tiered storage environments.
Approximately 85% of all storage infrastructure deployments today use tape as part of their recovery architecture,” says Van Vuuren.
Quantum's Scalar i6000 provides a significant increase in capacity, high availability and enhanced security to meet increasing data requirements.
The Scalar i6000 incorporates the company's next-generation iLayer software with new innovative archiving capabilities and management benefits.
In addition to launching the Scalar i6000, Quantum also released version 4.0 of its Quantum Vision software, which supports a tiered storage strategy by enhancing centralised monitoring and reporting of Quantum's Scalar tape libraries and DXi-Series disk-based backup and deduplication products.
Van Vuuren says this combination of enhanced capabilities and intelligence builds upon Quantum's position as a worldwide leader in tape automation. “We are able to provide enterprise customers with a long-term archive and data retention solution that is optimised for the evolving role of tape in data protection.”
Scalar i6000 includes a new iLayer Media Data Integrity Analysis (MeDIA) feature that maintains data integrity by proactively scanning archived cartridges to detect and address potential media problems. It provides three levels of media scanning and runs in the background to not impact operations.
The Scalar i6000's integrated iLayer software also offers intelligent monitoring and management to save administrators time and improve system reliability. Its proactive monitoring and advanced diagnostics provide system administrators with up to 75% in time savings compared to other tape libraries.
The enterprise-class Scalar i6000 dramatically scales up to 12 modules holding over 5 300 cartridges and storing up to 16PB of data. Combined with the greater capacity and performance improvements from the incorporation of LTO-5 tape drives, the Scalar i6000 saves significant floor space and lowers power and cooling costs.
The Scalar i6000 can efficiently and cost-effectively accommodate a user's data storage growth non-disruptively with capacity-on-demand (COD), and eases tape library management by increasing cartridge import/export capacity and adding bulk load capabilities.
Additionally, Quantum's new tape library is backwards compatible for existing Scalar i2000 library customers who want to take advantage of new Scalar i6000 features.
Van Vuuren says the role of tape is constantly evolving and driving the need for capabilities that enable libraries to be more effective gateways for tiered data retention, both nearline and offline.
Quantum's Scalar i6000 also provides new high availability features to reduce downtime. New control and data path failover features enable the tape library or drive to switch to a redundant path and continue operating.
These features enable the Scalar i6000 to overcome network degradation and failures that would normally cause jobs to fail.
Addressing data security concerns, Quantum has added media security notification to its iLayer software to help prevent unauthorised media removal. To further keep data secure, even when stored offsite, the Scalar i6000 not only supports LTO encryption and WORM (write once, read many) but also Scalar Key Manager, a high-availability key management tool that can be seamlessly integrated into existing backup environments.
The Scalar Key Manager allows users safeguard against the increasingly costly and reputation-damaging data breaches associated with stolen or lost tapes.
"Intelligent tape libraries must play a stronger supporting role in long-term media integrity, administrative efficiency and security of data at rest. Quantum offers a comprehensive set of data protection solutions enabling us to understand the value of tape as part of a tiered storage architecture that can effectively manage tremendous data growth. The addition of the Scalar i6000 to the Scalar iLayer family further demonstrates our commitment to innovation in this segment," concludes Van Vuuren.
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