Spectra Releases Tape Health Software

April 15, 2008: Spectra Logic claims it has new lifecycle management kit that will change how tape backup environments are viewed with its new tape-related error reduction software.

The company says that its new Media Lifecycle Management (MLM) tools provide advanced monitoring and reporting on the same level as disk-based solutions. Proactive monitoring and advanced reporting reduces the possibility of backup failure as storage administrators can replace media before tragedy strikes or as usage thresholds are reached.

A combination of certified LTO media and Spectra’s BlueScale software, the company says that MLM also provides advanced media tracking and reporting for the life of a tape. The software tracks more than 30 pieces of information about individual tapes, and information is linked to both the barcode and permanently stored on a memory chip on the LTO tape itself.

This enables library administrators to monitor and remove tapes with high error rates, reducing the chance of data corruption.

“MLM changes the playing field for secondary storage, as it makes tape as reliable as disk,” said Matt Starr, CTO of Spectra Logic. “Tape continues to thrive in the data centre and MLM opens new visibility into the backup and archive environment to continue to increase efficiency and data availability.”

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