British Antarctic Survey Chooses Two Quantum Scalar i3 Tape Libraries

Quantum Corp. announced that British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is implementing its Scalar i3 tape libraries on the new RRS Sir David Attenborough research vessel to backup vital scientific data collected at the Earth’s poles.

British Antarctic Survey Chooses Quantum Scalar

The libraries provide scalability for large data volumes, minimize the storage footprint on a space-constrained ship, and facilitate transport of data back to the organization’s UK office.

“The Scalar i3 library allows us to have the library and server blade in one box. We can just plug it into the network and go from there,” says Jeremy Robst, IT support engineer, British Antarctic Survey.

Planning backup solution for new research xessel
The UK’s National Environment Research Council (NERC) commissioned a custom-built research vessel to facilitate scientific projects at the Earth’s poles. Operated by BAS, the ship is equipped with specialized laboratories and instruments that enable researchers to study water properties, sea animals, the sea floor, the atmosphere, and more.

The BAS IT team needed to implement all the necessary IT for the ship’s research cruises, which typically last between 6 weeks and 2 months. Providing sufficient storage and backup capacity was a priority.

“We estimated that researchers would produce roughly two orders of magnitude more data than on our previous vessel,” says Robst. “That might mean anywhere from 10 to 100TB during a single research cruise. We had to supply storage and backup equipment that could handle that data.“

Protecting Large Data Volumes with Scalar Tape Systems
After considering tape solutions from multiple vendors, the IT team selected Scalar i3 tape libraries. The decision was partly based on the integrated, converged design of the Scalar i3, which combines the library and a server blade in a single enclosure. That design simplifies installation.

The IT team is implementing 2 Scalar i3 libraries on the Sir David Attenborough. One supports the Veeam Software, Inc.‘s used for daily backups from disk storage. The other library uses a Scalar LTFS, which supports file-system operations.

Compact storage with LTO-8
Minimizing the storage footprint is vital on a research ship – even on a seemingly large vessel. By choosing Scalar i3 libraries equipped with LTO-8 drives, the IT group can store up to 12TB of data per cartridge, or 30TB compressed.

“With the Scalar i3 library, we can use the latest drive technology-and that lets us pack as much data as possible into a very small footprint,” says Robst.

Easy to Transport Data Back to England
The IT team can make copies of backed-up data using LTFS. Then, at the end of the research cruise, the team can pack up the copies in their suitcases and bring them back to the UK office by plane.

“That way we can easily make data readily available to other researchers,” says Robst.

Preparing for the Maiden Voyage
The coronavirus pandemic slowed the installation of the IT environment on the ship, but the IT team is ready to put the new storage environment through its paces.

“We’re hoping that by the end of the year, we’ll have taken the vessel to sea to really experience how these libraries can help assist with some important research,” said Robst.