OvationData Chooses WD/HGST Active Archive System and Versity Storage Manager

Western Digital Corporation announced that Ovation Data Services, Inc. (OvationData) has selected the joint HGST Active Archive System and Versity Storage Manager solution to build a private storage cloud for media and entertainment and oil and gas industries as these organizations require fast and frequent access to their current and historical file-based data assets.

This cloud-scale storage solution helps improve data management with single pane copy management, automatic tiering to both object storage and tape, while lowering data operational and management cost through reduced system complexity and CAPEX costs. OvationData chose the Active Archive System and Storage Manager joint solution for its easy-to-deploy, file capable, Amazon S3-compliant, scale-out object storage solution.

“The OvationData selection of the HGST Active Archive System to provide a foundation for its media and entertainment and oil and gas cloud infrastructure is further evidence that these markets are hungry for turnkey systems that provide massive scale and include a rich inventory of ecosystem partners to meet the demands of end user customers,” said Terri McClure, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. “The markets served by OvationData require data to be stored and easily accessible for long periods of time because there is tremendous business value in leveraging that data for analysis and reuse. The cost equations associated with using object storage as the base for long-term file storage, and HGST Active Archive for its manageability and efficiency, make it a compelling choice.“

The Active Archive System combined with the Storage Manager archiving software makes it possible for data management service providers, like OvationData, to offer multi-tenant storage-as-a-service environments that integrate with existing POSIX applications and can scale to hundreds of petabytes. It also allows Ovation to enhance its Data Stewardship program and services, where it geographically spreads (GeoSpread) digital assets to multiple sites and mediums for data protection.

“We chose the HGST Active Archive System to complement our storage management solution from Versity and create an on-premises, cloud-scale data management platform to store and archive our customers’ growing collections of digital assets,” said Gregory G. Servos, president and CEO, OvationData. “The performance and ease of management allows OvationData to optimize the infrastructure to support our customers that require fast access to their digital assets and exploration data archive to expand and differentiate their business.“

This solution delivers following features:

• Scalability and durability: File and object storage features enable legacy applications to operate as cloud applications, sharing a scale-out storage pool that will make data accessible across all levels of the organization.
• Automated tiering and consistency checking: Policy-driven data management from Versity migrates, copies, verifies, tiers, and retains data automatically to the Active Archive System, enabling a near-limitless private cloud.
• Open APIs (S3) for long-term access: S3-compliancy ensures that the Active Archive System integrates with the Storage Manager. Additionally, the Versity API is POSIX-compliant and supports standard storage interfaces. There are no changes to applications required so the solution can be integrated into existing environments.
  

“File-centric customers like OvationData are seeking faster time to archived data in a solution that is easy to manage, easy to scale, and cost effective,” said Bruce Gilpin, co-founder and CEO, Versity. “Western Digital’s object storage technology has the scalability, durability and density to replace traditional archive media, while making data readily-accessible in a private cloud. Together with Western Digital, this solution will change the way organizations look at data archiving, enabling enterprises and service providers to make all data readily accessible across any environment.“

“Organizations that are able to capture and harness the power of their data have an advantage in today’s hyper competitive environment,” said Dave Tang, SVP and GM of the data center systems business unit, Western Digital. “The HGST Active Archive System enables rapid deployment of a cloud-scale data archiving solution that can transform silos of data into globally accessible information. Combined with Versity, the solution is a multi-tenant private cloud that can be accessed on demand, anytime and anywhere.“