Maxell Into RAID Systems Based on iVDR

Maxell Corporation of America introduces three series of storage and duplication systems based on its iVDR technology that deliver reliability, low cost-per-GB, and security, making them suited for data storage and backup.

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Developed in partnership with Addonics Technology, these families include storage towers and racks, and duplicators that bring customization and flexibility to record keeping, file archiving, and many other data storage applications.

"With the introduction of our iVDR storage towers and racks, as well as hard drive duplicators, we now offer IT and data center customers an even stronger iVDR platform," said Pat Byrne, senior marketing manager for Maxell. "By offering the ability to configure the products with any combination of iVDR cartridges and SATA hard drives, we offer data storage professionals flexibility to ensure critical information is redundantly backed up and protected in the manner they need."

The iVDR storage towers and racks combine the advantages of the rugged iVDR technology with Redundant Array of Independent Disk (RAID) functionality as well as JBOD usability. They are available in numerous configurations, including a 4-Bay Storage Tower, 4-Bay Cipher Tower, 5-Bay Storage Tower, 5-Bay Cipher Tower, 9-Bay Storage Tower, 9-Bay Storage Rack, and the rugged iVDR Desktop Drive w/SATA connectivity.

Each tower and rack can be configured with a combination of iVDR, SATA or IDE drive trays, accommodating both 2.5" and 3.5" hard disk drives. These products also support SSDs to fit a user’s needs. Configurations can be either vertical desktop towers or a horizontal, rack-mountable 9-Bay Rack.

The Storage Towers connect to computers via a built-in Hardware Port Multiplier (HPM) to form a capacity, performance external RAID system with redundancy to protect against data loss due to drive failure. Once the HPM is configured, the RAID set can be attached to any eSATA or USB port of any system. The Storage Tower supports JBOD and standard RAID modes (0, 1, 3, 5, and 10) for data protection and redundancy.

The Cipher Towers are designed with security features, making them well suited for applications that need to meet the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and SEC regulations (Rule 17a-4). For example, the 4-Bay and 5-Bay Cipher Towers, which are based on the same platform as the Storage Towers, have military-grade AES 256-bit encryption technology, allowing users to secure all data on any of the connected drives.

The iVDR Cipher RAID Tower utilizes RAID Volume Encryption (RVE), requiring one Cipher key for each RAID volume. This type of encryption is suited for applications including general office server applications, file back-up, web server, or e-mail server applications.

Maxell Diamond 1:1/1:5 Duplicators can be used for copying from a source drive of any type (iVDR-EX cartridges, 2.5"/3.5" SATA hard drives, IDE or SSD interface) to a target drive of any kind. This flexibility makes the iVDR hard drive duplicators tools for the migration of data. Operating as a stand-alone appliance, without the need to connect to any computer, the iVDR hard drive duplicators are simple to operate. No special software is required and there are no complicated set up-procedures.

The complete line of new products is available. Prices will vary based on the platform selected, as well as the number and type of drive(s) requested. Orders will be priced beforehand and assembled per the customer’s request.

Comments

We thought that iVDR (which stands for Information Versatile Disc for Removable usage), a reliable portable HDD cartridge standard, was dead.

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Latest news about this removable hard disk drives appear in November 2008 on StorageNewsletter.com when the iVDR Hard Disk Drive Consortium said to have started international standardization activities of iVDR specifications on July 29, 2008 - and finally approved in October 2009.

But we just learned also that I-O Data Device, at the heart of the technology with a special connector, releases in December 2010 its Hi-Vision Recording Hard Disk including one iVDR disk to be used like a VHS cassette or an optical disc in a bigger volume but with higher capacity.

Next May 31, there will be an annual seminar and member company exhibition called iVDR Expo 2011 under the theme of "iVDR makes your life and work enjoyable" organized by the iVDR Consortium.

The iVDR cassette exists in three different types depending on the HDD used inside the cassette (1.8-,2.5- or 3.5-inch) at up to 500GB. It is essentially used in Japan and only for AV players/recorders or to backup HD TV on an external USB device. It's a Japanese version of RDX but we have never heard about data backup solutions based on this different standard apart this new Maxell's products. What is going to do in storage subsystems this Japanese company, subsidiary of Hitachi, and mainly manufacturer of optical and magnetic media as well as batteries?

The iVDR Consortium was formed in 2002 by Japanese technology, consumer and auto companies, including Canon, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Pioneer, Sanyo Electric, Sharp and Toyota Motor. Seagate joined it as a board member company in January 2008 but never launched any iVDR device.

At that time we learned that the royalties to be paid for the use of this technology were pretty high.

According to the iDVR consortium, around 800,000 cartridges were sold in 2009 with projections of 1.4 million in 2010 and 3.6 million in 2011.