StrongBox presents itself as a NAS device, so it allows simultaneous application, user and file access (a necessity in this environment). It can also participate in standard SAN environments without any application modifications. In fact, a big point to emphasize is that it requires no changes to current practices and procedures. StrongBox enables a vendor-neutral archive that does not require any dependency on operating systems, applications or specialized agents. No changes to applications or file formats, attributes, privileges and rights are required. It monitors and manages all generic LTFS tapes. Note that the fact that tape is being used as a Tier 3 storage layer for an active archive is transparent to the end user, although IT professionals are well aware that StrongBox is helping them manage an environment that includes tape automation.
Crossroads cites user examples of the benefits that StrongBox can achieve. One healthcare technology service provider projected the cost of storing a petabyte of data on HDDs versus using StrongBox. The latter delivered nearly an order of magnitude of savings during a five-year time period.
A couple of side benefits to using tape are that tape uses minimal power and has a long shelf life. A piece of tape media in a tape library, but not currently in a tape drive, uses no power. The alternative concept of MAID (Massive Array of Idle Disks) for disk, where disks are powered down when not in use, has never really taken off. Tape also has a longer shelf life than disk (to the surprise of many), which means that technology refreshes with tape can occur at longer intervals than disk typically requires. All in all, StrongBox appears to deliver an all-the-time-on, easily accessible data vault for the long-term management of data at a more effective price point than can be obtained with disk-only solutions.
Active archiving is actually just one of a number of IT revolutions that are going on today. However, it might best be characterized as the quietest IT revolution, especially because tape (whose death has been proclaimed for decades) will take a leading role. Now, even though this means that tape will have as disruptive an impact on HDDs as do SSDs, SSDs are more glamorous than tape. Other trends--such as big data, cloud computing and the continuing proliferation of mobile devices--will continue to drive the lion’s share of public attention. Yet without using active archiving and tape to provide for the long-term preservation of data in a form that still enables drawing ongoing value from information as needed, enterprises might choke on excessive costs and the other revolutions will not be able to achieve their full potential.
Overall, we consider Crossroads’ StrongBox product to be a key enabler of the quiet revolution. IT professionals should like the fact that they don’t have to change the way they do business (assuming that they already have a tape automation environment) to use a StrongBox. Business users will have access to data that still has business value but might have otherwise been too expensive to keep. Financial professionals, whose eyes are focused on the bottom line, will appreciate the cost efficiencies of a tape-based active archive. With Crossroads’ StrongBox playing a central role, maybe the quiet revolution won’t be so quiet after all.
At the time of this publication, Crossroads is not a current client of David Hill and the Mesabi Group.
