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MillimeterPowerfile Introduces Permanent Storage Appliance
Jun 21, 2006 8:00 AM
PowerFile, an innovator in archive appliances for permanent storage of digital content and assets, unveiled the Permanent Storage Appliance, a network-attached storage system that uses a patented, highly scalable DVD-based subsystem with the capability to store files online for many years.
Permanent storage is a necessity for those who require the reliability, accessibility, and protection of long-term fixed content. For organizations with large and long-term data storage requirements such as financial, government, legal, and the medical industries, failure to both safeguard records and retrieve them in a timely fashion could result in fines and penalties. Whereas traditional archives are stored offline and offsite on tape, which is equivalent to banishing the data, the Permanent Storage Appliance allows enterprises to quickly access stored data as any other network volume online.
Powerfile’s one-of-a-kind archiving solution provides a new and innovative approach to long-term, unalterable data that enables both online access and long-term storage. The Permanent Storage Appliance overcomes the challenges presented by DVD in the enterprise by completely virtualizing a massive array of disks behind a network attached front end so nothing unique needs to be administered, managed or learned.
The Permanent Storage Appliance is comprised of a 2U, rack-mountable network attached server and up to 18 DVD-based robotic libraries, making it ideal for long-term storage and regulatory compliance in organizations of all sizes. A single system supports up to 12 500GB SATA disk drives, providing up to 6TB of high-performance cache and up to 30.6TB of usable archive capacity. The system comes pre-configured with powerful storage management software that virtualizes the DVD subsystem into storage volumes in any required increments. Hot-swappable, redundant components allow for high availability and increased reliability, while the modular design enhances field serviceability. Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 powers the Permanent Storage Appliance for seamless integration with existing infrastructures.
"In the past, users had two choices. They could keep their data online, a costly proposition. Or they could back it up to tape, effectively banishing that data forever from the light of day,” says Kirk Dunn, CEO of PowerFile. “Then came disk-to-disk solutions, which are impractical for long-term storage. This online/offline dilemma became further complicated with the introduction of various compliance ordinances requiring that data remain unalterable. With the Permanent Storage Appliance, we are combining the rapid data retrieval of online access with permanent, non-erasable media, to satisfy the most stringent retention requirements at the greatest cost efficiency.”
The award-winning DVD libraries bundled with the Permanent Storage Appliance can archive terabytes of critical data on industry-standard DVD media that can be read by any standard DVD drive. Archive-quality DVD media has been proven by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to have an expected lifespan of more than 50 years. In contrast, current disk-based and tape-based methods are susceptible to mechanical failure and require costly data migration every three to five years.
PowerFile’s Permanent Storage Appliance is the first foray into the multi-billion dollar enterprise storage market, building on its success in a historical business based on patented libraries. According to an April 2006 Worldwide Optical Automation report from IDC, the success of the PowerFile products played a key role in the growth of optical automation shipments in 2005, up 40 percent from the year before. The report named PowerFile as the CD/DVD/bare media leader with more than 65 percent of the market share.
PowerFile products are in operation in more than 500 customer installations worldwide, including prestigious users such as Valero in the oil and gas industry, The Weather Channel in broadcast media, and Autodesk in the technology arena and several U.S. Government agencies. PowerFile has successfully teamed with partners such as EMC/Legato to create solutions for enterprise storage management, collaborated with Symantec and C2C in email archiving, worked with SENCOR for medical fixed content storage, and partnered with Imerge/XIVA in digital audio and MassTech Group for broadcasting applications.
The Permanent Storage Appliance is available through select PowerFile channel partners at an MSRP of $11,495 USD for a starter kit, with add-on capacity at about $1,700 per TB.
For more information, visit www.powerfile.com.
