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Spectra Logic introduces multimedia auto-tiering for archives
Spectra Logic helps users manage archives with new software integration and auto-tiering into hardware or software. It's also partnering with Wasabi on more storage options.
Spectra Logic is sharpening its data management offerings through a new software integration for archives and a new partnership with Wasabi for production data.
Spectra released its Spectra Digital Archive this week, which combines its StorCycle storage management software with hardware. The new combination gives users policy-driven automation to archive petabytes of unstructured data to HDDs, tape or cloud -- or a combination of the three.
Customers can choose with which medium to store archive data based on how often and how fast users need access to the data, according to Christophe Bertrand, an analyst at TechTarget's Enterprise Strategy Group.
"With the Digital Archive, Spectra is giving users a full spectrum of data management capability to optimize these tiers," Bertrand said.
Archive data is hard to manage at scale, and as data storage needs increase, managing that data will become more complex without the right tools, according to Bertrand.
Digital Archive also helps with data protection by managing where archives are stored or keeping a copy offline in the form of tape, preventing access to bad actors, Bertrand said.
Lifting the Vail
Last week, Spectra also unveiled a new partnership between its Spectra Vail data management software and Wasabi. Spectra Vail is aimed at multi- and hybrid cloud infrastructures. It brings a customer's data into a single namespace.
Given that Wasabi, which provides S3-compatible cloud object storage, offers a fixed price of $5.99 per TB per month and no egress or API request fees, Spectra Logic is aiming to provide customers with a lower-cost data migration target, according to the vendor.
The Spectra Logic-Wasabi partnership could benefit customers, according to Marc Staimer, president of Dragon Slayer Consulting, an analyst firm in Beaverton, Ore.
"From a customer point of view, you get more information about all your unstructured data, and you are able to move it to where it's the cheapest," he said.
He did warn that customers should take careful steps if they're looking to avoid egress fees, as they'll still apply to data moving directly from a provider such as AWS to Wasabi. But they'll be able to move data from Spectra Vail to Wasabi and avoid the charge.
The partnership with Wasabi gives Spectra Logic's customers more options for storing cloud data, according to Bertrand.
It gives users a multi-cloud tiering option through Vail with on-premises support for large amounts of data so that they can keep their most frequently used data on higher performing clouds and move cooler data to Wasabi, Bertrand said.
"That is where Spectra's technology comes in, giving users a tremendous amount of capacity," Bertrand said.
Staimer also noted the benefit to vendors, with Wasabi becoming potentially more attractive to Spectra customers and Spectra, which competes with data management providers Hammerspace, Komprise and Aparavi, potentially gaining access to more customers through Wasabi.
Adam Armstrong is a TechTarget Editorial news writer covering file and block storage hardware and private clouds. He previously worked at StorageReview.com.
