XenData Has Launched Multi-Tier Storage Systems for Video Surveillance

XenData Ltd. launch its VS Series, a range of multi-tier storage systems for surveillance applications that manages video content across three tiers of storage: on disk, LTO tape or optical disc cartridges in a robotic library and offline LTO or optical disc cartridges.

Through intelligent content migration and retention policy management, the VS Series reduces the total cost of storage by avoiding the use of expensive storage infrastructure for files accessed less frequently.

The VS Series systems offer flexibility in performance, scalability, capacity and accessibility, meeting even the specific and demanding requirements, while still delivering a cost-effective solution.

Key benefits include:

• Savings – A smarter and affordable alternative to conventional disk-based systems, the VS Series automatically migrates video to the most cost efficient storage tier, allowing for sizable savings for a variety of storage solutions and policy requirements.

• Performance – Configurable for small surveillance environments – less than 50 cameras – or more complex environments with thousands of cameras, the solution is flexible, striking the right balance between performance, capacity and retention without adding to network traffic on the video surveillance infrastructure.

• Scale on demand – With the ability to write up to 50TB of video on a single server per day, the VS Series storage architecture is not only streamlined, but highly adaptable with the ability to scale on demand to accommodate huge volumes of data – increased image resolution, longer retention times and added cameras – for some of the most advanced video systems and analytical applications.

• Instant access and compatibility – Built specifically for video applications, company’s single file-system interface and policy management capabilities make file retrieval fast and simple without requiring any changes in the position of video files in the overall file-folder structure. This allows for greater compatibility with a wide range of video management systems (VMS) and analytic applications.

Central to all VS Series storage systems is a Windows server that attaches to a 10GbE or 1GbE network.

The following models are available:

• SX-250 servers: Manage up to 540TB of cost effective LTO tape or Sony optical disc storage

• SX-55x Series servers: Support up to 240TB of high performance RAID and multiple petabytes of LTO tape or Sony optical disc storage

With all VS Series models, video files are written to first-tier disk storage, and within minutes, an additional instance of each file is also written to an LTO or optical disc cartridge. After a defined disk retention period, the file is automatically deleted from disk, but remains available from LTO or optical disc. All models support Vaulted and Non-Vaulted modes of operation, allowing access to video content from LTO or Sony optical disc cartridges after the defined disk retention period.

In the Non-Vaulted mode, the video content is retained on LTO or optical disc for a defined second-tier retention period, after which the content is deleted and the LTO and optical disc cartridges are automatically reformatted ready for re-use. The Non-Vaulted mode supports unattended operation and makes use of cost effective LTO or optical storage within a robotic library.

The Vaulted mode of operation supports a third tier of storage – offline LTO or optical disc cartridges. In this case, the system issues email alerts when LTO or optical cartridges are ready for export from the robotic library. The Vaulted mode is ideal when long retention periods are required and supports both rewritable and unalterable WORM (Write Once Read Many) LTO and Sony optical cartridges.

Systems including disk and LTO robotic libraries start at $16,580 and are available.