Tandberg RDX With USB 3.0 and SSDs Cartridges

Tandberg Data announced a family of RDX removable disk solutions with the introduction of USB 3.0 connectivity for its RDX QuikStor data protection solution. Also announced was a line of RDX cartridges based on solid-state disk technology for environments that require fast, durable and portable storage.

The RDX QuikStor is a disk-based removable storage system with portable cartridges that offer rugged, reliable and convenient backup for the SMB and remote offices. It combines the benefits of tape – reliability, portability and long archive life – with the performance, random access and ease of use of hard disk technology. RDX AccuGuard software delivers 20:1 deduplication and data protection when activated with the RDX QuikStor solution.

The new RDX QuikStor SuperSpeed USB 3.0 docks are compatible with RDX cartridges, maintaining interchangeability of all RDX docks and cartridges. The new RDX QuikStor USB 3.0 achieves speeds up to eight times that of the USB 2.0 and SATA versions. In addition, the RDX QuikStor USB 3.0 has been optimized for power efficiency.

New RDX Solid-State Disk Cartridges
Customers now have the choice between standard high-capacity RDX cartridges or the new RDX solid-state disk cartridges, which provide fast transfer rates of up to 180MB/s, when used with the RDX QuikStor USB 3.0. Designed for mission-critical, data-intensive applications such as medical, military, video editing and surveillance, the new RDX solid-state disk cartridge capacities include 64GB, 128GB, 256GB and 512GB. Standard RDX media is available in capacities ranging from 160GB to 1TB, with an ever-increasing capacity roadmap that tracks with the 2.5-inch mobile hard disk drive industry.

"Tandberg Data has shipped more than 70 percent of the world’s RDX solutions in the past four years and the company continues to roll out new and innovative RDX-based solutions to help customers find affordable and creative ways to protect their ever-growing volumes of data," said Marije Gould, vice president of marketing for Tandberg Data. "This announcement further validates the company’s commitment to be the world’s leading provider of innovative RDX data protection solutions for small businesses and remote offices."

Pricing and Availability
The RDX QuikStor with USB 3.0 (internal dock) will be available in May, and the RDX QuikStor (external dock) will be available in June through Tandberg Data’s channel of OEM, distributor and reseller partners. The manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) of the RDX QuikStor with USB 3.0 starts at $179 (US). All RDX QuikStor removable disk storage solutions come with a 3-year replacement service warranty. The new RDX solid-state disk cartridges will be available in May, starting at $350 for the 64GB cartridge.

Comments

Tandberg's RDX cabinet QuikStor containing one drive, with USB 3.0 rather than USB 2.0, is perfectly understandable. There is a general trend toward the new interface for all external storage devices to get around 8X more speed for roughly the same price. This model also has faster SATA interface.

Up to know, these subsystems integrate only 2.5-inch removable HDDs from 64GB to 1TB. But here, Tandberg is announcing the possibility to replace them by SSDs, from 64GB to 512GB.

Who is going to buy flash disks for a data protection unit essentially used for backup, recovery and off-site archiving, and presented by Tandberg as an entry-level tape alternative being sold with backup software, even with de-dupe?

SSDs are faster but not so much with the USB or SATA interface from the one-disk station to the host. And it's only 1GbE for the 8-drive QuikStation NAS - this latter is not included in the press release for use with SSDs. Flash drives are more reliable but the difference is not so high. The big gap is the price: about ten times more per gigabyte.

You can always find one crazy customer to acquire anything at any price to get the latest technology. Maybe two, maybe ten. But we don't think that RDX with SSDs will be a real market, at least in the coming years. And why not tomorrow RDX robots or libraries like tape automation products with SSDs? Totally aberrant today.

We are waiting to see if Imation, reseller of SSDs, will also offer them inside its RDX Removable Hard Disk Storage System, and if their OEMs (Dell, HP, IBM) will handle them.