PowerFile has announced its new enterprise-class Hybrid Storage Appliance optimized for long-term storage of fixed content.
The storage provider said the purpose-built platform delivers "the performance of disk, the economy of tape, and superior reliability and data integrity".
The PowerFile HSA offers petabyte-class scalability and virtualization of the underlying storage technologies to create an integrated appliance.
PowerFile said that by combining intelligent storage management software and sophisticated file management with cost-effective, robust hardware, the HSA could significantly lower both CAPEX and OPEX.
Leading analysts estimate that up to 80 per cent of enterprise data is fixed content and organizations are holding onto that data for longer retention periods based on corporate policies for litigation support and regulatory compliance.
Relocating this data from Tier 1 or Tier 2 disk to a PowerFile HSA can provide a huge advantage in driving down the cost of enterprise storage, eliminating the cost of unnecessary data migration operations every three to five years.
Kirk Dunn, CEO at PowerFile, said there is no debate that using hard disk-based solutions for long-term storage of fixed content data is an unsustainable strategy for enterprises, given the crushing capital and ongoing operations expenses.
"PowerFile’s hybrid storage approach breaks with convention by creating a new storage platform that provides performance when you need it, economy when you don’t and in the process eliminates most of the costs associated with the storage tax resulting in up to a 10x cost advantage over disk-based storage,’ he said.
The new PowerFile Hybrid Storage Appliance has a data center-optimized design with up to 500 terabytes of capacity in a standard 42u rack.
The energy-efficient design consumes 5 watts per TB, approximately 5 to 10 per cent of the energy usage compared to spinning disk, delivering substantial OPEX cost savings.
It significantly reduces energy requirements for data centers that are nearing the limits of available energy capacity.
The HSA is composed of three scalable units: the HSA System controller, utilizing dual quad-core processors to power the HybridOS operating system at enterprise speeds, the HSA Cache Array, a 12 to 48TB RAID array that provides sustained data ingestion to the HSA, and the HSA Library, a 4u enclosure with 25 TB of removable, Blu-ray-based capacity and up to 12 industry-standard Blu-ray drives.
Up to 24 library modules can be added to a single HSA for a total system capacity of 1.2 petabytes. HSA components are connected via a high-speed, high-availability switched Ethernet backbone with Gigabit and 10 Gigabit options to precisely match the customer’s cost and performance requirements.
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