ProStor’s new InfiniVault adds Online Disk Tier to RDX Archive Appliance
InfiniVault is ProStor’s storage appliance that provides a repository for fixed digital content. It presents as a network attached storage device (NAS) and, as the name implies, provides compliant, long-term storage, utilizing the RDX cartridge format disk drives. The InfiniVault software manages data as it’s cached and written to RDX cartridges in the appliance’s drive bays, and maintains this management transparently as the cartridges are removed from the system. Part of the appeal of this technology is that replaced cartridges provide random access to data, giving it nearly endless expandability, like a tape system, but with the speed of a disk system. Since RDX is a WORM device and is compliant for long-term data retention, this system has been a popular ‘plug replacement’ for optical disk drive systems. It’s been commonly used as an integrated archive for applications in industries such as document imaging, medial imaging, oil and gas, video surveillance, etc.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Briefing Note
Eric Slack, Senior Analyst
ProStor is not a client of Storage Switzerland
The traditional InfiniVault use case has been as a near-line repository for data that needed compliant storage. The RDX form factor enabled expansion of the archive by putting full cartridges on the shelf and made offsite storage of data equally simple. Its cost point between tape and disk storage and its random access and disk performance made the InfiniVault a true ‘near-line’ storage system that could be used to reduce an organization’s consumption of primary storage.
Storage Switzerland met recently with Dave Glatfelter, ProStor’s Product Marketing Manager, to preview the InfiniVault Model 70. This system has the same NAS presentation and expandable RDX drive bay capacity as earlier models, but adds a full-fledged disk drive tier to the front end. Its 3U controller module supports 24TB of on-line storage and can be expanded by adding up to three more 32TB drive shelves. This gives the InfiniVault the ability to provide primary storage, as well as secondary storage and archive capacity in a single appliance architecture. And, according to Glatfelter, this online storage capability is producing some new use cases as well.
NAS Expansion
As companies grow out of their networked file storage capacity they’re looking to the InfiniVault to provide a lower cost, multi-tier storage system. With a full-sized disk tier, it can support traditional network file storage and allow data to age out to RDX, saving the cost of online storage. One customer bought an InfiniVault to store video surveillance files but then added home directories and email archives, consolidating multiple storage systems. Another, an educational institution, uses the InfiniVault to store student records, utilizing the disk pool to service current students and moving these files off to RDX when students leave. When they return to school and reregister, the system can bring back their files in short order by simply reloading the RDX cartridges.
Storage Swiss Take
ProStor’s InfiniVault has traditionally done real well in the compliant storage market, replacing optical disks and more expensive content addressable storage (CAS). But it was mainly an archive target as its disk capacity wasn’t large enough for anything more than caching data for the RDX cartridges in the system. Now, with a full-fledged disk array, the InfiniVault can provide a real tiered storage solution, replacing another disk subsystem in the environment and allowing users to leverage the near-line capability of RDX and reduce primary storage costs, in addition to meeting their needs for compliant data storage.
