Spectra Logic Adds Tape Integrity Verification

Spectra Logic Corporation is offering data integrity verification across its line of T-Series tape libraries from SME to enterprise – free of charge.

Spectra’s BlueScale Data Integrity Verification for tape libraries is a long-term data reliability feature that ensures data written to tape is retrievable now and for years into the future. With Data Integrity Verification, Spectra’s tape libraries are the only tape storage systems on the market today that actively, automatically check the media and the data on tape throughout the storage life of the data.

Integrated data integrity verification is increasingly becoming a data center requirement for highly-valued data solutions. Data integrity verification is being addressed through data scrubbing techniques from memory to high-end RAID storage and is now available in Spectra T-Series tape libraries.

Organizations are retaining ever-expanding volumes of data to meet long-term business and compliance objectives, and are increasingly storing large amounts of data for extended periods of time. Storage of digital archive data can extend years or decades, and it is critical to ensure the enduring integrity and accessibility of that data. Spectra’s Data Integrity Verification provides organizations the confidence their backup and archive data will be readily available when needed, regardless of how long it has been stored.

"The amount of data stored on tape continues to surge as massive and growing digital archive demands compel users to seek practical and economic ways to address escalating data volumes. We expect worldwide tape archive capacity to grow more than six fold over the next five years – from just under 13 exabytes in 2010 to over 81 exabytes by 2015, driven by both new digital content and extended storage timelines," said Mark Peters, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "Consequently, organizations need smart strategies and tools that deliver extreme storage efficiencies while meeting stringent data reliability and availability requirements. Spectra Logic’s enterprise capabilities and tape technology innovations, including Data Integrity Verification, are excellent examples of this, helping to elevate storage best practices and to make tape solutions increasingly relevant as long-term storage demands grow."

                                       Total WW Digital Archive Capacity
                                                 by Media, 2010-2015
                                                        (Petabytes)

  (Source: Enterprise Strategy Group)

Data Integrity Verification is a new feature available in BlueScale 11.3, the company’s software management platform, which powers Spectra Logic’s line of tape libraries. Spectra Logic’s Data Integrity Verification improves system availability and data integrity by proactively performing background read verification passes of the tape media on a scheduled basis and reporting potentially latent failures.

Spectra’s Data Integrity Verification includes
three levels of fully automated validation:

• PreScan – Checks newly imported tapes to ensure they are ready to use: for example, in good health, generationally compatible and not write-protected.
• QuickScan – Quickly and immediately verifies the backup and archive data was successfully written to tape with a rapid single pass from the beginning of the tape to the end of the first track. Along with PostScan, rapid or gradual media degradation is tracked in the library’s flash memory SQL database and reported to users.
• PostScan – Automatically verifies the physical tape cartridge and the integrity of all of the data stored upon it. As with PreScan and QuickScan, the PostScan process is performed by the library and is independent of the backup application normally used to read and write data to the tape.

For high performance computing, media and entertainment, federal and general IT organizations, Data Integrity Verification integrates into existing environments and operates as a background library-managed process with no impact to application software configurations.

"Customer satisfaction and confidence in their backup and archive data is at the forefront of all we do," said Molly Rector, vice president of product management and worldwide marketing, Spectra Logic. "Data Integrity Verification dramatically reduces risk, ensures enduring access to archived data and is fast becoming a data center requirement. Spectra Logic is pleased to offer it as a free upgrade, which reflects our strong commitment to providing customers the world’s best archive storage."

Availability
Enterprise-class capabilities including Data Integrity Verification are available at no additional charge on all Spectra Logic tape libraries including the Spectra T50e and T120, the Spectra T-Series Mid-Range T200, T380 and T680, and the enterprise class T950 and T-Finity. These capabilities are part of Spectra Logic’s BlueScale 11.3 management software, which powers Spectra’s full line of tape libraries.