Many of the challenges facing SMBs today – such as unabated growth of large, content-rich data sets, and more stringent requirements for archival storage for regulatory compliance – are not being met with conventional backup/recovery systems using tape and or disk. The inherent limitations backup / recovery software and themcharacteristics of disk-only and tape-only systems are difficult to overcome. The iStoRA for Archive and Compliance addresses these limitations by combined the archive specific software with the advantages of both tape and disk needed to effectively manage the data lifecycle and to keep the investment affordable for the SMB.

Limits of Just Disk or Just Tape

As the cost of disk has come down, the ability to justify its use for secondary storage for providing fast, near-line data availability recoverability within in minutes, not days or weeks, is making disk the emerging standard for archive management.

Although tape still has the lowest cost per GB for secondary storage, plus the advantage of removability, it cannot meet the standard of availability that disk is setting. Disk alone, however, still has a major drawback in scalability – as the volume of data expands, the cost of archiving to disk is prohibitive for the SMB.

Requirements for Archive Management

Archive management requires more than just the movement of data from storage device to storage device resulting in protection. It needs the intelligence to understand the history and the policies attached to each individual file. It needs to be end user friendly for retrieval, without the intervention of a systems administrator. In some cases, the data needs extra protection and audit trails, write integrity assurance and to know who accesses the data when they have accesses it. Backup Recovery software, has limits when it comes to addressing these needs.

iStoRA for Archive and Compliance with XenData Archive Series

The iStoRA for Archive and Compliance with XenData Archive Series™ software combines hierarchical storage management, integrated data protection and file version management along with the D2D2T hardware architecture. Ideal for multi terabyte archives, iStoRA for Archive and Compliance offers a compelling solution for small brokers, medical offices or banks that are subject to regulatory compliance requirements. It is also is a great fit in broadcast stations, print houses or design agencies – any business that works with content rich applications or files.

It presents the tape library and RAID cache as a single, logical drive letter which may be shared over a network. This is an ideal feature for companies that have multiple geographical locations, yet use and share the same data. And it does not require the high-priced high-speed connection between sites that disk-only systems necessitate – an important feature for SMBs with constrained IT budgets.

With both disk and tape available, the system administrator defines policies that determine and record where data files are physically stored. Frequently used files may be retained on both disk and tape, whereas less frequently accessed data may be retained only on lower-cost tape. The Archive Series™ software supports compliance initiatives by providing an audit trail of all file changes and deletions, ensuring data authenticity. It supports the simultaneous use of WORM and rewritable media within the library, providing the data authentication capability required for compliance. The software also automatically duplicates units of storage media and has the capability to readily download indexes.

The seamlessly integrated iStoRA™ for Archive smoothly handles the challenge of storing and retrieving the large volumes of data generated by medical imaging, document imaging, email archiving, satellite imaging, video files and a number of other scientific applications. It delivers affordable storage management that’s easy to use from day one – and will grow to meet your expanding storage requirements, with disk and tape expansion units, plus software support for an unlimited number of off-line tape cartridges.

The Breece Hill iStoRA™ for Archive and Compliance is a fully integrated D2D2T appliance preloaded with XenData’s Archive Series™ software. The iStoRA 4U appliance features 2 to 3.2TB of RAID, a 1 x 10 WORM enabled tape autoloader, a high performance Intel server running a Windows 2003 Server operating system, and network connectivity – everything needed for a plug and play archive and compliance solution. Designed specifically for SMBs, it’s complete, ready for implementation and affordably priced.

 Breece Hill iStoRA for Archive

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