Crossroads Delivers Next Generation of Sphinx

Crossroads Systems, Inc. announced the next generation of SPHiNX, a cost-effective virtual tape appliance.

Supporting IBM System i and i5/OS information systems (including Power Systems and formerly known AS/400 systems) and now extending support to AIX and open systems, Crossroads’ SPHiNX offers a common platform to address critical data protection needs. The new generation of SPHiNX reduces data management and storage complexities through a fully integrated end-to-end backup solution.

The announcement of this latest version of SPHiNX follows Crossroads’ successful 2009 launch of SPHiNX that was specifically tailored for IBM System i and i5/OS information systems. Crossroads now offers fully-integrated SPHiNX support for AIX and Microsoft Windows Server environments. The latest version of SPHiNX offers dramatically enhanced functionality and provides sought-after enterprise scalability that storage and IT administrators demand.

Delivering improved performance and storage capabilities, the SPHiNX virtual tape appliance leverages existing investments in disk and tape backup infrastructures. Quickly deployed inside data centers, Crossroads’ SPHiNX allows organizations to greatly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of physical tape storage – offering flexible, scalable, high-performance and long-term data protection.

Additionally, the enhanced iteration of SPHiNX delivers the same level of premier data protection for environments that often require separate teams of experts to manage siloed solutions with different support contracts. With SPHiNX, an organization can use the same platform of solutions to meet all immediate and future needs at a fraction of the cost and with fewer resources.

Overcoming Today’s Data Protection Challenges
With many organizations facing growing tape-related operational and administrative challenges related to regulatory compliance, SPHiNX allows data centers to recognize immediate, obvious benefits, overcoming hurdles such as:

• Inability to complete backups on schedule
• Limited connectivity and reliability issues with traditional physical tape environments
• Aging technology with limited throughput and reliability issues
• Growing cost of human resources to manage backup tape media
• Excessive expenses due to greater volumes of backup data
• Difficulty managing multiple backups and multiple tape devices
• Inability to quickly restore physical tape

SPHiNX differentiates itself by offering:

• Dedicated Appliance: Simple, turnkey solution that alleviates complex problems, including backing up IBM i, AIX and Windows partitions for systems and provides an alternate IPL device for system recovery of IBM i partitions with no impact on host resources
• Seamless Integration: Uses existing backup environment and policies, emulating standard IBM tape formats, and supports existing disk and physical tape infrastructures to maximize investment
• Flexible Data Management: Provides media pools and retention policies, consolidating physical media and drive usage with encryption and replication options to protect data
• Device Consolidation: Leverages disk to efficiently meet backup and recovery objectives while consolidating the number of tape devices required by supporting multiple partitions from a given host system and multiple backup streams from any single partition
• Grows with Business Needs: Offers dynamic virtual tape sizing, unlimited virtual cartridges, and built-in data compression – effectively addressing business growth requirements

"SPHiNX users and partners alike have expressed that SPHiNX brings a breath of fresh air and the ability to afford using solutions in combination with traditional tape for backups," said Glenn Haley, senior product manager at Crossroads Systems. "We’re pleased to expand SPHiNX for AIX and Microsoft Windows Server environments, as this broader support further enhances the value SPHiNX offers organizations that seek the ability to resolve disparate data protection challenges through a reliable and consolidated set of solutions."