Virtual Tape Solution by Crossroads

Crossroads Systems, Inc. announced general availability of its new SPHiNX for Power Systems virtual tape solution for use alongside large data centers using IBM i, AS/400, iSeries, and System i.

The SPHiNX for Power Systems product release was announced while Crossroads exhibited at the COMMON Directions and Focus 2009 event at the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis. COMMON is the world’s largest users group of midrange IBM and IBM-compatible technology. The organization comprises more than 4,000 individual and corporate members, representing more than 22,000 IT professionals involved with the IBM Power Systems and related solutions.

Easily deployed inside data centers with IBM Power Systems, Crossroads’ new SPHiNX solution allows organizations to greatly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of physical tape storage. Eliminating a common headache out of your data environment, SPHiNX for Power Systems also enhances data backup and restores, providing for significantly more secure and protected data. SPHiNX is designed for organizations that are feeling the pain around the inability to complete backups in a timely manner. With many organizations facing growing tape-related operational and administrative costs and/or challenges related to regulatory compliance, SPHiNX for Power Systems can be quickly and easily deployed to recognize immediate, obvious benefits.

SPHiNX for Power Systems
answers the following common data center hurdles:

Physical Tape backup and/or archive issues

• Inability to complete backups on schedule
• Limited connectivity with traditional tape
• Aging technology with limited throughput and reliability issues

Cost issues

• Growing cost of human resources to manage backup tape media
• Excessive expenses due to greater volumes of backup data
• Off-site storage of archive data

Efficiency issues

• Difficulty managing multiple backups and multiple tape devices
• Frequent intervention required with physical tape

Regulatory issues:

• Poor track record for physical tape-based recovery exercises
• Inability to quickly restore physical tape alone

Westminster, Colorado-based Computer Research, Inc., which provides securities processing services for regional brokerage and financial services firms, installed Crossroads’ SPHiNX for Power Systems solution in an effort to greatly reduce their data backup window. CRI wanted to avoid the significant cost of a new physical tape investment and the management overhead of introducing yet another physical tape device in their environment.

"We chose SPHiNX for Power Systems because it’s the only universal hardware/software option to bring disparate systems together under one system to handle tape management," said Dennis Noto of Computer Research, Inc. "We have reduced our backup window by 40 percent and are now able to use one tape format. Our stored tape images now appear as files on a disk drive versus a tape system."

"Through the release of SPHiNX, Crossroads provides a virtual tape solution specifically tailored to address the data protection challenges of IBM Power Systems, creating an affordable, simple solution for organizations looking to consolidate the number of tape devices that are required as well improve the efficiency and reliability of backup operations," said Rob Sims, President and CEO at Crossroads Systems. "We’re pleased to announce SPHiNX for Power Systems during the COMMON Directions and Focus 2009 event in Indianapolis, as it offers powerful capabilities that relieve data centers from enormous costs by reducing time to complete backups by up to 50 percent, reducing the amount of human intervention required, and ensuring new scalability to enable future growth."

SPHiNX for Power Systems also provides high level of data security and privacy requirements to help fulfill HIPAA and state information protection mandates.