NEC enhances HYDRAstor grid storage for archives
Company claims upgrades boost performance, adds encryption
By Demi Connor | Network World US | Published: 16:04, 21 September 2009
EC last week enhanced its grid storage hardware and software, HYDRAstor with the incorporation of WORM support, in-flight data encryption and quota management. In addition, the company claims that it increased the performance of HYDRAstor by 67% over previous versions.
The enhancements to HYDRAstor, in particular its WORM capability and encryption, make it ideal for archiving and data retention. Its HYDRAlock technology is the basis for HYDRAstor's WORM capability and prevents the erasure or alteration of documents, e-mails and other records.
The new HYDRAlock WORM capability allows administrators to lock out any changes to documents or other records, maintaining a chain of custody for regulatory purposes, Senderov said. The new RepliGrid in-flight data encryption capability protects data as it's being transmitted between HYDRAstor grids and data centers, he added.
The product also features greater file system granularity, supporting a mix of resiliency classes for data protection. Software enhancements provide a more efficient communication between nodes. Existing HS8-2000 grids can now operate at 1.8TB/hour for accelerator nodes and 90TB an hour for accelerator and storage nodes.
Further, HYDRAstor now includes data encryption when data is replicated between HYDRAstor grids with NEC's RepliGrid asynchronous replication.
The company also added application-aware deduplication of data for Tivoli Storage Manager and EMC Networker to their support for CommVault Simpana and Symantec NetBackup.
NEC also added a lower-capacity version of HYDRAstor that is available in 12TB, 24T and 36TB capacities. NEC also announced that it will allow users to licence additional physical capacity that can be activated without adding additional components. For example, can now license as little as 12TB of capacity in a 24TB configuration and then pay a fee to activate additional capacity as needed.
NEC also announced that it will allow users to licence additional physical capacity that can be activated without adding additional components. For example, can now licence as little as 12TB of capacity in a 24TB configuration and then pay a fee to activate additional capacity as needed.
A new quota management system allows IT administrators to set limits to the maximum effective capacity allocated for each file system and its associated application. The quota management system also offers threshold notifications as well as the ability to set aside a capacity reserve for other applications, such as critical archive data.
Previously, the HYDRAstors grid architecture had a default capacity of 256 petabytes for all applications.
