SCIENCE

Quantum has introduced a new high-performance backup and deduplication system offering the power and flexibility to anchor a multi-tier, Enterprise-wide disaster recovery and data retention strategy. The DXi8500 delivers the highest single unit VTL performance in its class -- 6.4 TB/hr -- to accommodate shrinking backup and recovery windows significantly more effectively than competitive offerings. Like Quantum's innovative midrange DXi6000 deduplication products, the new Enterprise platform is designed for maximum overall system value with all necessary software licenses -- including deduplication, replication, path-to-tape and support for OpenStorage API -- as standard features bundled into the base price.

"Quantum's DXi-Series has become a mainstay data protection solution for Datalink customers, and the new DXi8500's best-in-class performance will allow us to provide even more value for Enterprise IT departments faced with multi-site backup challenges," said Shawn O'Grady, executive vice president, Strategy and Operations, Datalink. "An ongoing commitment to product innovation and value is just one reason that Datalink considers Quantum a strategic partner."

Advanced Deduplication Technology for Superior Performance The DXi8500 utilizes Quantum's deduplication technology to reduce typical disk and bandwidth requirements by 90 percent or more and leverages replication compatibility with the entire DXi-Series to simplify multi-site management and disaster recovery protection, streamline IT operations, and reduce the use of removable media. The DXi8500 incorporates 6-core Nehalem processors, RAID 6, 8Gb Fibre Channel, and both 1Gb and 10Gb Ethernet connectivity for a highly extensible architecture designed to provide a platform for future enhancements and even higher performance. By using an innovative multi-tier strategy to assign different kinds of data, indexes, metadata and operations to optimal storage media, the DXi8500 ensures maximum backup and restore performance.

Scalability and Enhanced Flexibility for Diverse Environments

Scaling from 20 TB to 200 TB of usable capacity in a single unit, the DXi8500 systems are sized to meet the needs of a broad range of data centers. The DXi8500 offers the widest array of presentation options available for heterogeneous environments, including deduplication-enabled VTL, CIFS, NFS and OST, as well as native mode VTL and NAS shares. This flexibility allows a single DXi8500 unit to serve as a point of consolidation for distributed Enterprise data protection operations.

"Over the last 18 months, IDC has seen accelerated integration of storage-efficient technologies such as deduplication into vendor solutions, and Quantum is a good example of this trend," noted Laura DuBois, program vice president, IDC Storage Software and Solutions. "By bundling all of the necessary software licenses in the base price of the DXi8500, Quantum set out to address Enterprise customer needs for deduplication solutions that offer simplicity with compelling value, enabling better storage economics."

Integrated Tape Creation for Cost-Effective Tiered Storage To integrate short-term data protection and long-term retention, the DXi8500 provides an application-specific direct path-to-tape option for both VTL and OST interfaces. This automated function writes backup data directly from the DXi system to an attached tape library while bypassing the backup server. The operation is integrated with the backup software to provide automation, a single point of management, and a fully synchronized catalog across disk and tape. This approach makes the DXi8500 an easily-shared backup and restore resource, offering multi-site and multi-tier protection.

Management Capabilities for System Optimization The DXi8500 offers Enterprise IT departments a new standard of manageability. Included as a feature on all DXi8500 units, Quantum's DXi Advanced Reporting software presents a detailed view of internal appliance operations, including backup and replication data for flexible trend analyses, enabling smarter planning and lower long-term costs. DXi Advanced Reporting cuts administration time, streamlines performance tuning, improves troubleshooting, and helps users maximize the value of their DXi(TM)-Series appliances. The optional Quantum Vision 4.0 management software provides a single-console interface for managing global backup resources including disk, tape and replication. Vision's trend analysis tools provide Enterprises with automated, flexible access to information for dynamic capacity utilization, ongoing system administration and system-wide troubleshooting to help optimize system value.

"With the introduction of the DXi8500, Quantum has now completely refreshed its entire DXi-Series portfolio over the past year to deliver superior performance, simplicity and value to the widest range of backup environments," said Janae Lee, Quantum senior vice president, Disk and Software Products Group. "The advanced technology behind the DXi8500 provides a highly adaptable deduplication and replication platform that is designed to keep pace with the most demanding Enterprise data protection challenges and protect customer IT investments well into the future."