Active Archive In the Cloud

It seems that the subject of archiving is getting a lot of press these days as enterprises of all shapes and sizes are facing a deluge of data and content which is being generated by new technologies and applications. This is not a bad thing per se as there may be value to be had from this data and content in the form of business analytics or monetization of the content at some point in the future. The problem comes in the cost management of this data/content effectively over time. With government regulations and legal compliance dictating long-term retention periods, and with the future value potential of certain data, much of the data has to be archived indefinitely.

Yet another complexity is the desire to keep the data easily accessible for users to access online as opposed to waiting for near line or offline files to be retrieved from a shelf. That is where the concept of active archiving steps in to solve the problem in a cost-effective way.

Active archiving provides reliable, fast, and easy online access to data files in the most cost effective way through policy-based automated migration of files as they age and retrieval becomes less frequent. Files move from expensive tier 1 disk storage to secondary disk and ultimately to tier 3 tape where the lowest cost per/GB and the best long-term reliability can be achieved. To sum it up, active archiving is the most reliable and cost effective solution that provides online, all the time access to archival data.

One of the key ingredients in an active archive is tape storage in terms of being able to maintain online access to large amounts of data reliably and cost-effectively. Since most data is rarely accessed after 30 days of creation, it doesn’t make sense to keep that data on more expensive disk. The same principle applies to cloud storage models where best practices of a good data center operation apply to the cloud as well.

Now that security concerns around cloud storage have been alleviated, cloud storage is being embraced as a convenient way to add storage capacity on demand without the need for more capex investments. But do the same sound principles of active archiving apply to cloud storage? How about the key ingredient of tape that allows you to keep the deluge of data indefinitely without breaking the budget?

The answer is yes, and the newly announced Permivault cloud-based archiving and disaster recovery service from Fujifilm uses tape for primary storage while still delivering the performance required of an active archive architecture. This is achieved by the implementation of StrongBox from Crossroads Systems which is the first enterprise-level storage solution that combines LTFS tape technology with disk, providing the reliability, scalability and cost-effectiveness of tape with the speed and ease of access of disk systems.

Permivault helps enterprise customers solve their long-term, off-site storage requirements with a simple, secure, cost-effective cloud solution.  Permivault gives users online access but with the data protection features to meet enterprise-specific needs, controlled access to data, plus the ability to move large data between sites and be confident in the long-term preservation of their data. With Permivault, cloud-based active archiving has arrived!