Quantum launches hyperscale tape storage system

Quantum has launched a new tape storage system designed for hyperscale archive environments, the Scalar i6H.

The Scalar i6H is a modular tape storage system that was designed in collaboration with some of the world’s largest hyperscalers and is now being made available to web scale companies and enterprises looking to build private clouds. The Scalar i6H offers best-in-class storage density and sets a new standard for tape ease-of-use. It can be shipped fully assembled in a rack, everything is customer-serviceable and replaceable, and technicians with no tape expertise can easily manage many systems at large scale. In addition, the Scalar i6H offers unique anti-ransomware features like Scalar Ransom Block for building cyber-resilient private clouds. The Scalar i6H is the latest in a string of recent innovations that advance Quantum’s competitive leadership position in building and managing hyperscale cloud infrastructure for data archiving, cold storage, and data protection.

“Several years ago, we set out to develop tape solutions that are market leaders both technically and commercially in the hyperscale market,” says Bruno Hald, vice president and general manager, secondary storage for Quantum. “We now have seven hyperscale and web scale accounts globally that have collectively deployed over 35 exabytes of capacity in hundreds of Quantum tape systems around the world, including many Scalar i6H systems that are already deployed in some of the world’s largest data archives.”

Hald continued, “The Scalar i6H is our latest generation tape library platform designed to be deployed in hyperscale archive environments as part of a Quantum Redundant Array of Independent Library, or RAIL, architecture. The combination of this architecture with the density, serviceability, and other unique Scalar i6H features make it the leading choice for exabyte-scale private clouds.”

Scalar i6H Brings Improved Density, Serviceability, Additional Features to Address Hyperscale Needs

The Scalar i6H was designed for hyperscale archives, with unique features and benefits including:

Best-in-class storage density: The Scalar i6H offers best-in-class storage density to minimise tape physical footprint, minimise data centre floor space used, and to deliver the lowest total cost of ownership.

A new standard for tape ease-of-use: The Scalar i6H improves service-level agreements through its simplified design and service model where all components are customer replaceable.  Components like the robotics system can be replaced with the push of a button.     

Modular, flexible deployment options, including ship-in-rack: The Scalar i6H is deployed one rack at a time, making it easier and faster to deploy tape capacity as large archives grow, and offering hyperscalers and enterprises more flexible options about how and where to deploy tape.  The goal is to move from shipping dock to installed and operational in under an hour.  In addition, the rack can accommodate additional servers to run software which can provide new ways to access tape for large-scale private cloud storage and archiving.

Highly efficient, green design: Including 80 PLUS certified power supplies to reduce power and cooling costs.

In addition to the unique features of the Scalar i6H, it also includes software features that are available on other Quantum Scalar systems including:

Features for Ransomware Protection and Building Cyber-Resilient Archives: Including Active Vault, logical tape blocking, and Scalar Ransom Block, the award-winning feature that creates a physical barrier between data tapes and the robotic tape system to provide the ultimate layer of security

Monitor hundreds of tape systems continuously with connection to Quantum Cloud-Based Analytics (CBA) software

Additional security features like multi-factor authentication, data encryption and key management, all part of a comprehensive security framework

Periodically check tape integrity with Scalar Extended Data Lifecycle Management (EDLM) policy-based tape scanning

Proactive system monitoring and diagnostics

A complete suite of RESTful web services for system management

Quantum RAIL Offers a More Modular, More Highly Available Architecture for Private Clouds

Scalar i6H systems are deployed one rack at a time, which makes it faster and easier to deploy new tape capacity as archives grow. A Quantum Redundant Array of Independent Libraries, or RAIL, architecture is a more modular way to build large private clouds. Rather than store tens of thousands of tapes in a single tape system, organisations can build tape archives in a “scale out” manner, adding modular tape systems one at a time, which makes it faster and easier to deploy new tape capacity as archives grow.

This also means that tape capacity can be deployed in a non-contiguous fashion, allowing hyperscalers and other large organisations to be more flexible about where tape is deployed for secure, cold data storage. Combined with smart erasure coding software that can write objects to multiple tape systems, such as patented two-dimensional erasure coding software introduced with ActiveScale Cold Storage, RAIL allows these large data storage services to provide secure, highly durable, and extremely low-cost storage for cold data archiving.