Qualstar Expands its XLS Enterprise Library Family

Qualstar Corporation announced the XLS-8161100 Library Resource Module (LRM), the fourth member of the XLS Enterprise Tape Library System family. The new model sets the industry standard for storage density and is particularly well suited for users with rapidly growing archive requirements. The XLS-8161100 leverages the trend-setting expandability pioneered by Qualstar’s XLS-820500 and XLS-832700 LRMs, which began shipping in 2006.

The new LRM delivers an initial native capacity up to 852 terabytes in less than 11 square feet of floor space. It houses up to 16 IBM LTO 4 (Ultrium) tape drives, with aggregate data transfer rates exceeding 6.9 TB/hr. One or two 1,075 slot Memory Expansion Modules (MEM) can be added to each XLS-8161100, yielding a configuration that stores over 2.5 petabytes in less than 28 square feet. The new model can be intermixed with both new and installed XLS-820500 and XLS-832700 LRMs to deliver precisely tailored configurations to meet a broad range of end user capacity and performance requirements.

XLS is truly The Tape Library You Can’t Outgrow. LRMs and MEMs can be easily linked together to build configurations exceeding 9,600 tape slots, delivering almost 7.7 petabytes (native) of storage. Leveraging Qualstar’s patented Compass Architecture, any tape can be accessed in just 21 inches average horizontal robotics motion, yielding much higher reliability and lower power consumption. For example, the XLS-8161100 uses under 500 watts of electricity to store and access almost 850 terabytes of archive data, which is less than 1/20th the power used by a similarly sized disk system.

“Our new XLS-8161100 targets two significant problems that users developing large archive storage systems all share: maximizing storage density to radically reduce the amount of expensive IT floor space needed, and attacking power consumption and the related air conditioning loads that older tape technologies and all disk systems incur,” said William Gervais, Qualstar president and CEO. “Easy expansion, advanced manageability and great flexibility means that the XLS Enterprise Tape Library family continues to deliver real value to customers needing enterprise capacity and features without enterprise costs.”

Like the all XLS models, the XLS-8161100 incorporates X-Link, the intelligent, single-view management interface that provides powerful tools and comprehensive information to monitor and manage library operations around the clock, throughout the enterprise or across the globe. Identical X-Link access is delivered locally via the 15-inch color touch screen built into every XLS, and remotely via an intranet connection or the Internet. Authorizations, passwords and user group controls give administrators the security tools needed to organize, manage and customize individual user access to up to eight independent logical library partitions. With appropriate permissions, Qualstar Technical Support technicians can also remotely access an XLS via X-Link to review event logs and run diagnostics.

The XLS-8161100 will be available beginning in July.

Qualstar Corporation