Quantum Plans Dual Robotics and Key Manager Interoperability Protocol Support

Quantum Corp. announced high availability and security enhancements to its enterprise Scalar i6000 and midrange Scalar i500 tape libraries.

The company plans to add dual robotics and key manager interoperability protocol (KMIP) 1.0 support for encryption to the Scalar i6000 in the second half of this year, supplementing the system’s existing data path failover support and recent integration of FIPS-validated encryption with Scalar Key Manager and LTO tape drives. Both data path failover and FIPS validation have also now been incorporated into the Scalar i500, with KMIP encryption support slated for later this year, all of which expands the enterprise-level features Quantum provides to midrange customers. These new enhancements reflected by Quantum recently surpassing the 35,000th shipment milestone for Scalar libraries.

The addition of a second, redundant robot in a single library will further improve uptime for Scalar i6000 customers, expanding on the library’s existing HA features. These include iLayer proactive diagnostics, redundant power and native data path failover.

Data path failover enables LTO-5 tape drives to switch to a redundant data path and continue operations, thereby overcoming network degradation and problems that would normally cause jobs to fail. Data path failover complements control path failover to provide enterprise storage networking support in Quantum’s tape libraries.

KMIP is an encryption key management standard that will enable the implementation of a centralized key management strategy for customers looking to centrally manage keys. They will be able to attach their Scalar libraries to any KMIP compliant key management device – another example of Quantum’s focus on open standards and customer choice.

With the addition of FIPS 140-2 validation for Scalar Key Manager and LTO-5 tape drive technology, customers can benefit from more tape security features that also include AES 256-bit encryption, LUN mapping and host access control. FIPS is a federal standard for security and encryption.

By incorporating data path failover and FIPS validation into the Scalar i500 tape library now, and KMIP encryption support in the latter half of 2011, Quantum continues to provide midrange customers with the benefits of HA and security features designed for enterprise environments.

John Flores, vice president, Marketing, Sigma Solutions, Inc., said: "Once again, Quantum delivers product features that are critical to enterprise and midrange organizations, where reducing downtime and improving security are key needs. These expanded capabilities help us offer an even more attractive product to organizations tackling complex data storage needs."

Rob Clark, senior vice president, Disk and Tape Backup Products, Quantum, said: "As our customers leverage the benefits of disk-based backup, they continue to see a critical role for tape in providing long-term data protection and retention. Quantum remains committed to expanding its enterprise tape features with advanced technologies, such as dual robotics and KMIP encryption support, to meet customers’ needs for even higher availability and greater security."