Spectra Logic Updating BlackPearl Deep Storage Gateway

Spectra Logic Corporation announced updates and enhancements to its BlackPearl Deep Storage Gateway that allow data to move into deep tape storage in a new and more efficient way.

To meet the demands of exponential data growth and long-term retention, the gateway enables users to easily store massive amounts of data forever, at virtually no cost.

The enhanced BlackPearl Deep Storage Gateway sits in front of deep storage tape libraries and allows users to move data anywhere within their network using simple HTTP commands. Company’s command set, DS3, is an extension of the S3 cloud storage interface popularized by Amazon. DS3 provides additional features for bulk data movement, increasing workflow efficiency. Spectra Logic’s Developer Program provides the Application Program Interface (API) and Software Development Kits (SDKs) in several programming languages.

“BlackPearl empowers users to deploy a tier of deep storage that is cost effective, easy to manage and scalable to EBs of data,” said Matt Starr, CTO, Spectra Logic. “With the new enhancements and BlackPearl’s simple RESTful HTTP DS3 interface and embedded tape management software, organizations will be able to confidently store all of their data forever at costs as low as pennies per Gigabyte.“

Enhancements of latest code updates to BlackPearl Deep Storage Gateway:

• S3 Partial Object Restore allows user to request a piece of an object rather than the whole object increasing efficiency of network traffic

• Tape eject – Eject support for a bucket or individual tapes, with tracking of external media at no extra charge

• Backups of the object database, which keeps track of the objects/files in BlackPearl, are automatically copied to tape

• TS1150 tape drive technology support

• Tape Cache capacity increased from 28TB to 56TB standard with larger capacities available; supporting 8TB HDDs along with the current 4TB HDDs

• Throughput performance increased to 800MB/s using 6 to 8 LTO-6 tape drives attached to one BlackPearl Gateway

• Increased cache performance of 1GB/s

Additionally, Spectra Logic has decided to make BlackPearl’s RESTful DS3 interface and Software Development Kits (SDKs) available to everyone in an open source community – the Spectra Logic Developer Program. Developers can build their own applications to move data to company’s deep storage libraries. This will allow developers to modify the software for their specific needs, and to contribute those modifications back to the developer community.

“Spectra Logic has entered a new phase in our company’s long history of deep storage expertise,” said Jeff Braunstein, developer evangelist, Spectra Logic. “We are now making it easier to store data on our hardware by providing this free and open software interface to everyone.“

Spectra Logic has released its own DS3 client, the DS3 Browser, which is free and available in the open source community. The interface is intuitive, similar to an FTP client, and allows file drag and drop between BlackPearl and a local computer. With the DS3 Browser, customers can have a deep storage solution from one vendor, which eliminates complexity. Additionally, the DS3 Browser source code is available for customers to modify for their specific workflow needs, or developers can use the source code as an example while building their own client.