French ACRI-ST Scientific Research Organization Extends Quantum Xcellis Scale-Out Storage

Quantum Corp. announced that ACRI-ST, a French-based scientific research organization specializing in remote sensing and modelling of physical and environmental phenomena, extended its Quantum scale-out storage environment to provide the foundation for a 8PB archive project.

ACRI-ST, which deployed a Quantum StorNext-powered scale-out storage solution several years ago, has built on that solution to support the European Space Agency’s Earth Observation Data Archiving Service (EODAS). EODAS archives satellite-based research data for past and current agency missions as well as third-party missions.

Enabling Cutting-Edge Scientific Research
ACRI-ST enables scientists, university researchers, government agencies and other organizations around the world to draw from more than 20 years of data. It also offers processing services to help streamline research. In 2014, ACRI-ST deployed a StorNext multi-tier storage solution to manage the massive increase in data resulting from ESA’s launch of the Sentinel-3 satellite. The solution has been a success, accelerating the ACRI-ST workflows and ensuring that archived data is accessible for in-house scientists and hundreds of external researchers.

“The mix of disk and tape in a single environment gives us the best of both worlds,” said Gilbert Barrot, CIO, ACRI-ST. “We can keep a cache of data available on disk while storing most of the repository on more economical tape. Our in-house researchers can access the files they need on their own, even when data resides on tape, and they’ve been very happy with the response time.“

Expanding Archive to Support Additional Needs
In 2016, ACRI-ST won a bid to support EODAS, which meant it had to expand its archive service to provide 8PB of capacity – 6PB for historical data and 2PB for live missions.

“ESA wanted a robust archive that could provide bulk data retrieval and distribution,” explained Barrot. “The Quantum archive solution was perfect. We added capacity easily and inexpensively while still maintaining a small data center footprint.“

ACRI-ST scaled its existing archive environment in France and built a nearly identical environment in Luxembourg through its subsidiary adwasEO (hosting data center in Betzdorf) that serves as the main archive site. Both the France and Luxembourg sites include a Quantum tape library and a StorNext-powered Xcellis workflow storage system which facilitates data ingest and retrieval while providing integrated protection and archive data management.

Once data is ingested in Luxembourg, backup copies of tapes are then shipped to France for offsite DR protection.

In France there is also an active vault configuration to enhance data accessibility and durability for minimal cost. In addition, ACRI-ST uses Quantum Extended Data Life Management (EDLM) capabilities, which automatically detect potential problems with tape media and move data from the suspect tape to another one.

“EDLM helps us meet key EODAS requirements for data integrity,” said Barrot. “We can keep satellite data safe from loss, even over long periods of time.“

Looking to Cloud and Beyond
With Quantum’s scale-out tiered storage foundation, ACRI-ST can continue to pursue new projects, whether that requires further expanding capacity, implementing new capabilities, adding HPC storage or connecting with cloud-based systems.

“We have the flexibility to accommodate a variety of future requirements,” said Barrot. “We have the confidence that we can continue to win bids and deliver outstanding service with Quantum-based solutions.“

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