Backup vendor Quantum has announced a new enterprise tape library to help IT managers deal with tape consolidation in tiered storage environments as data growth skyrockets.
Scalar i6000 is based on Quantum’s Scalar i2000 architecture and increases the capacity, availability and security compared to previous generations of its enterprise library, according to the vendor. It scales up to 12 modules holding more than 5300 cartridges and storing up to 16 PB of data. It uses LTO-5 tape drives to help deal with increasing capacity needs and growth.
It also incorporates the company’s next-generation iLayer software with new archiving and management functions.
Quantum also released version 4.0 of its Vision software, which supports tiered storage through centralised monitoring and reporting of its Scalar tape libraries and DXi-series disk-based backup and deduplication products.
“As a result of regulatory compliance, litigation risks and a mix of other internal initiatives, roughly 85 per cent of all storage infrastructure deployments today use tape as part of their recovery architecture,” vice president for storage technologies and strategies at Gartner, Dave Russell, said in a statement. “Estimates show that the average annual growth rate of data is 60 per cent, so managing this data growth continues to be a top priority for IT. Tape is still the best solution for long-term data retention due to its low total cost of ownership over a multi-year timeframe.”
The iLayer management software adds a media data integrity analysis (MeDIA) feature, which scans archived cartridges to detect potential media problems so they can be addressed. It has three levels of media scanning and runs in the background. The software also includes monitoring and management options to help save admin time — Quantum claims up to 75 per cent in time savings compared to other tape libraries.
The new tape library is backwards compatible for existing Scalar i2000 library customers and features new control and data path failover to help overcome network degradation and failures.
The vendor has also added media security notification to its iLayer software to help prevent unauthorised media removal. It supports LTO encryption and write-once,-read-many, as well as Scalar Key Manager, a key management tool that can help organisations comply data breaches regulations.
“The role of tape is evolving, driving the need for capabilities that enable libraries to be more effective gateways for tiered data retention, both nearline and offline,” senior vice president of marketing for Quantum, Janae Lee, said. “Intelligent tape libraries must play a stronger supporting role in long-term media integrity, administrative efficiency and security of data at rest.”