Automated Tiered Storage In A Box
Automated Tiered Storage In A Box
June 27th, 2006: Tiers of storage based on drive types and RAID levels plus automated data classification and data movement between tiers.
Proving that demand for storage is increasingly strong, but simplicity of use is top of the priority list, U.S.-based Compellent Technologies releases its 'Storage Center QuickStart ILM' - a 'SAN in a box'.
According to the company, "QuickStart ILM provides tiered storage by intermixing high-performance Fibre Channel (FC) drives and lower-cost mid-tier FC drives in a single enclosure. Data is automatically classified and migrated to the optimum tier of storage based on usage, enabling organizations of all sizes to implement an automated tiered storage solution without the traditional cost and complexity of information lifecycle management (ILM).
Unlike traditional systems that move entire files or volumes, QuickStart ILM is able to migrate data at the block-level. By utilizing metadata, the storage area network (SAN) determines which tier of storage should be used to store each block of data and intelligently monitors usage over time. Frequently accessed data is retained on high-performance storage and infrequently accessed data is automatically migrated to lower cost storage, reducing overall disk expenditures up to 74 percent".
Storage Center QuickStart ILM is currently available in the United States. Pricing starts at US$49,500 and includes a Storage Center SAN with 6.4 terabytes of storage and enterprise capabilities including automated tiered storage, thin provisioning, and continuous snapshots. QuickStart ILM's modular architecture enables any business to easily scale to more than 300 terabytes on the same platform.