Enhances Data Sharing And Provides First-In-Class Data De-Duplication For Reduced Data Retention Costs;

Quantum Corp, the leading global specialist in backup, recovery and archive, today introduced StorNext 3.0 data management software. With this newest generation of Quantum’s StorNext solution, the company has enhanced the architecture to add more value to business operations. StorNext 3.0 extends high performance, resilient data sharing to servers on the local area network (LAN) and integrates Quantum’s patented data de-duplication technology to reduce data retention costs even further. In addition, it enables customers to expand storage capacity and replace storage devices while keeping the system online.
“While the competition scrambles to integrate disparate products to meet the needs of content-driven markets, Quantum has raised the bar with StorNext version 3.0,” said Brian Garrett, an industry analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. “The new and improved StorNext will be appreciated not only by thousands of existing customers in the rich media and HPC markets who rely on StorNext software for fast access to shared file systems, improved workflow and automated HSM, but also by enterprises looking for a better way to share and manage unstructured digital assets.”

Demonstrating Quantum’s leadership in meeting customers’ evolving storage challenges, StorNext 3.0 provides users with the following new benefits:

  • Distributed LAN Client enables applications on the LAN to access a shared pool of storage faster, and with a higher level of resiliency, than most traditional network sharing methods can provide. Using clustered gateways for access and an optimized communication protocol for performance, LAN Client not only extends data sharing but also delivers enterprise features such as load balancing and transparent I/O failover.
  • Data Reduction Storage is a specialized tier of disk that uses data de-duplication to reduce a customer’s data footprint, saving money by lowering capacity requirements and enabling data to be retained on fast recovery disk for a much longer period of time. Quantum has pioneering data de-duplication technology, a fundamental enabler for storage applications in backup and archive. StorNext is the first product of its kind to include such intuitive, user-specific data reduction technology.
  • Dynamic Resource Allocation increases uptime by enabling online service operations. It allows customers to scale their storage ‘ adding new storage capacity or transparently swapping out disk arrays during hardware upgrades ‘ while the system is active.
Quantum StorNext Advantages
Since its introduction in 2002, StorNext has helped users share, retain and re-use revenue-generating digital assets such as video, images, audio files, and research-analysis data sets. Proven in the most demanding environments, it offers resilient, high speed access to shared pools of such assets from both LAN and SAN servers, so projects are completed faster. StorNext also has embedded data movement technology which transparently moves data between storage tiers for better cost control and data protection. The entire solution is built on an open architecture supporting the widest range of server platforms, operating systems, and storage types in the industry, thereby preserving customer choice. Because StorNext is flexible and highly scalable, it has been particularly successful in data-intensive environments such as rich media, government, and scientific markets.

“We are committed to helping customers make better and longer use of their digital assets to generate revenue and save money,” said Lance Hukill, vice president of Software Sales for Quantum. “But we also recognize that mainstream IT customer needs are evolving and beginning to converge with those of StorNext’s traditional users, and that makes Quantum uniquely positioned to extend StorNext’s value to a broader customer base.”

Quantum plans to begin shipping StorNext 3.0 in the second calendar quarter of 2007.