Archiving Moves Front and Center

C2C has enhanced its Archive One software with a Federated Search Connector, which combines search results from other applications with those of Archive One -- and posts the consolidated report in a Web page for e-discovery use. The enhanced Archive One works with searches conducted in Sharepoint, Microsoft Search Server, and Internet Explorer.

"This gives customers a more consolidated view and lets them use one product where they'd otherwise need two or more," says analyst Eric Burgener of the Taneja Group. Other, larger vendors combine archiving, search, and e-discovery, but typically only via the purchase of multiple modules.

Archive One also allows multiple email records to be tagged for automatic movement to various types of files, depending on the stage of e-discovery. Emails can also be put on legal hold, even if a single email is associated with multiple case files.At least one analyst thinks that's a key differentiator: "It's not uncommon for a firm to have hundreds of legal issues going on at one time, and often there can be multiple holds on the same document," states Laura DuBois of IDC. "This feature of tagging allows C2C to track and apply multiple holds to a single record. Not all suppliers can do this."

C2C's Archive One enhancements are slated to ship in March, with prices starting at $20 per mailbox.

Powerfile released a turnkey appliance called the Archive Facilitator this week. Characterized as a "workflow appliance," the Archive Facilitator takes unstructured file data from primary storage and archives it on the vendor's other appliances, the A3 and PSA series, which store data 50-Gbyte Blu-ray media instead of disk or tape.

The Archive Facilitator, like Powerfile's other appliances, is sold as a turnkey unit with all hardware and software included. A basic box, licensed to migrate about 25 Tbytes to 50 Tbytes of storage to the A3 or PSA boxes, costs about $40,000.

Powerfile's appliances work with EMC Celerra storage and NetApp filers. They support a range of file formats, including Powerpoint, Word, Excel, PDF, CAD, and more. But Powerfile A3 and PSA boxes rely on archiving software, such as C2C's, as well as EMC's EmailXtender and others, to funnel email onto the removable storage.PivotStor released an LTO-4 tape library with an SAS interface. The PivotStor AP Series LTO-4HH SAS libraries can interconnect up to 128 devices via the SAS interface, which operates at 3 Gbit/s on a point-to-point basis, according to the vendor. The older SCSI interface allows up to 15 devices at 3.2 Gbit/s, but since devices have to share that bandwidth, throughput drops.

The PivotStor tape library costs about $13,000 for a single-drive, 2U unit with 24 slots. It can scale to about $39,400 for a dual-drive, 8U unit with 96 slots.

Sun took the wraps off a series of archiving solutions today, including the CIS Infinite Store Archive System, touted by Sun as a "multi-tiered archive appliance" with policy-making features built in. The preconfigured, racked system comes with a Sun Fire server and a choice of Sun's StorageTek 6140 Fibre Channel array for online storage; 6140 SATA array for midline; and various lower-end StorageTek tape drives for nearline storage. Total capacity is 16 Tbytes to 60 Tbytes. Pricing is about $130,000.

Sun also unveiled the Sun StorageTek SL3000, a midrange tape library designed to play "little brother" to the mammoth SL8500. Only it's not so little -- weighing in at over 2,000 pounds, it offers a maximum 24.2 Tbytes/hour throughput, equipped with up to 56 tape drives and 3,000 tape cartridges.

The SL3000 (priced from $68,000) handles LTO4 tape drives as well as a new StorageTek T9840D drive with an improved access time and integral encryption (priced at $38,000 per drive). There's a Crypto Key Management system (KMS) to go with it (priced at $8,000), which also works with HP LTO and other Sun tape products.Additionally, Sun has donated the Solaris source code for its "Project Honeycomb" archiving system to its OpenSolaris and Java.net developer communities, as well as to the SNIA. Also, any developer can download the binary code for use on any x86 system.

These and other developments are helping to make the world of archiving a confusing and disparate one, involving a range of technologies and approaches. But one thing is clear: Archiving has become a major focal point for products from all major storage suppliers, and a growing array of solutions is aimed at meeting a number of user situations. Watch this space for more coverage.Have a comment on this story? Please click "Discuss" below. If you'd like to contact Byte and Switch's editors directly, send us a message.

EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC)

IDC

NetApp Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP)

PivotStor LLC

PowerFile Inc.

Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: JAVA)

Taneja Group