Quantum Updating StorNext Appliances

Quantum Corporation announced StorNext 5 appliances.  

Based on a re-architected high-performance engine, StorNext 5 metadata appliances take management of unstructured data to a new level.

Flexibility and usability gives users the choice of the best topology for their needs by providing optimized support for IP, NAS, SAN, and cloud-based networks. The StorNext 5 appliances deliver up to 10 times greater performance and five times the scalability of previous StorNext versions and are optimized for evolving end-to-end content and data workflows where distributed teams need greater efficiency for handling large and small unstructured data files.

Additionally, StorNext 5 provides an intelligent framework for unified management of flash, disk, tape and object storage technologies from a single interface.

With over two decades of experience in managing assets in many of the world’s most demanding content management environments, Quantum has continued to provide new StorNext innovations and helped address how workflows are changing the way organizations collect, share and store their data. Today, content and data captured from multiple video, image and sensor sources are 100% digital and stored with the objective to re-purpose or analyze it for future monetization or scientific research. Project teams are globally distributed and must access files that may vary in size, which can range from large video streams for broadcasting to smaller data files for metadata or analytics. Network topologies are also evolving to where cloud, NAS and/or SAN environments are viable options for a scale-out digital workflow.

Built to address needs of complex digital workflows,
StorNext 5 appliances include:

Performance for Large and Small Unstructured Files

• Up to 10x faster performance throughout the StorNext 5 platform while supporting a greater number of users and files through highly efficient cache management and
• CPU utilization.
• 100% improvement in small file performance expands applications for StorNext 5 to include more compute-intensive environments, such as financial analytics and HPC, where fast file creation and deletion speeds for files as small as 4K are essential.

Scalability

• 5x increase in scalability, with up to five billion files shared in a single StorNext 5

File System

• Metadata scales to petabytes with no slowdown as data grows and ages.
• Automatic tuning for application and file size, providing independent scaling and capacity management benefits.

Flexibility to Match User Needs

• Expanded storage architectures, including SSD optimization and native IB support to enable the use of low latency applications such as HPC and analytics.
• Built to optimize technologies used in multi-tier, nearline storage and long-term archiving environments – for example by enabling maximum throughput performance for Quantum’s Lattus object storage and providing native support for LTFS. Moving beyond SAN to include user and application connectivity for IP (NAS) and HTTP/REST, in addition to FC (SAN), this topology-agnostic approach allows data to be transferred in StorNext 5 at the full speed of the protocol.

Architecture with Long-Term View

• Designed to maintain consistent performance for growing long-term archives with a scalable and finely tuned infrastructure.
• Non-disruptive software updates and a framework for intelligent reporting
• and management.
• Multi-core, multi-processor and multi-threading awareness for high throughput and low CPU utilization.

StorNext 5 appliances will be available in December 2013. Software-only solutions will be available during the first half of 2014.

Quantum will share details about its new StorNext 5 appliances at Quantum’s booth at the IBC conference taking place at the RAI Amsterdam from Sept. 13-17, 2013.

Terri McClure, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group, said: "StorNext 5 is a significant release. It promises to address the challenges found in today’s complex workflows where data environments are not only growing in volume, but are also comprised of mixed file sizes, performance requirements and network topologies. Quantum raises the bar for unstructured data management and delivers a strong alternative to scale-out NAS solutions for big data. Additionally, because there already is a comprehensive StorNext partner ecosystem in place, and this release is fully compatible with the last, companies tackling unstructured data challenges in various markets will be able to immediately take advantage of the benefits from the re-architected platform."

Janae Stow Lee, SVP, file system and archive, Quantum, said: "Our close collaboration with customers in the most demanding content and data-intensive industries in the world made it clear that file storage technologies industry-wide required a significant overhaul to effectively address the dramatic expansion of file sizes and volumes and need for faster data access. Some vendors have taken the easy approach with ‘band-aid’ solutions, but this doesn’t fix the problem in the long-term. Flexible scale-out storage without compromise is what StorNext 5 delivers."