StorageQuest Makes Archival Storage Simple & Open for Mid-sized Enterprises and SMBs
StorageQuest Makes Archival Storage Simple & Open for Mid-sized Enterprises and SMBs
Ottawa, Canada – April 5, 2005 – StorageQuest Inc., the leader in network attached optical storage management, today unveiled its second generation of storage management appliances the MSM 150, a new and innovative open systems-based approach that simplifies how mid-sized enterprises and small and medium businesses (SMBs) acquire, deploy and manage archival information
StorageQuest’s Simple & Open approach to network based archival storage encompasses a wide range of innovative StorageQuest software and application expertise, designed to help hundreds of thousands of mid-sized enterprises and SMBs worldwide address the major challenges of explosive information growth and spiraling costs by more effectively storing, archiving and protecting their critical data.
“The MSM 150 will help customers lower archival storage costs through consolidation and improved centralized management of archival storage resources. The MSM 150 is an appliance based solution that utilizes network attached storage (NAS) connectivity architecture to seamlessly integrate ANY optical storage library into existing infrastructures and provides global management of its storage resources through a web based management application suite” said Fred Bedard, StorageQuest’s Vice President of Sale & Marketing. “This is what customers have been asking for, no one wants to spend $150K to $200K+ for an archival storage solution, that’s crazy when you consider our solution can be implemented for a third of the cost and provide true WORM storage as an open solution.”
Over the past three years, StorageQuest has invested heavily in the research and development that help these customers simply and cost-effectively address their most difficult archival storage challenges specifically addressing new compliance regulations. Mid-sized enterprises and SMBs are now facing the same archival requirements resulting from compliancy and regulatory pressures as large enterprises, but without the luxury of large IT staff and budgets. To help them more effectively meet their challenges, while removing complexity, StorageQuest today is introducing a series of MSM 150 network appliances comprised of the latest StorageQuest hardware, software and services. The new MSM 150 solutions, offer open system standards with easy-to-deploy capabilities that ensure best-in-class archival storage implementations that are “Future Proofed” with the flexibility and scalability to meet changing business requirements and maximize return on investment.
Open Systems design was the key element in designing the MSM 150 as a “Future-Proof” solution, which is critical for the successful implementation for any archival system. When you consider that information stored in an archival system will be required for 5, 10 and upwards of 20 years the implementation of the archival system must be based on industry standards which will enable information to be read on any current or future operating system natively. Additionally, archived information must be made portable both logically and physically such that it can be easily moved, shared and distributed at any time in the future. Since regulations are continually changing and new ones are sure to arise, information flexibility is the only way to minimize both risks and cost.
Optical is the Clear Choice for any archival implementation, especially compliancy based archives requiring Write Once Read Many (WORM) such as SEC 17a-4. Today’s magnetic disk or tape archival solutions try to emulate optical WORM technology, however unlike the implementation of an optical archive with the MSM 150, all of these magnetic based archival solutions are proprietary, in that they require custom API’s and utilize proprietary formats. In addition, magnetic disk based systems are non-removable limiting off-site storage capability. If you consider WORM tape, which is a magnetic based media, the tape cartridge can easily be erased with an external erasing tool. As with any magnetic tape this fails the test of being TRUE WORM which requires the media to be non-alterable and non-erasable. Additionally, with tape being a sequential storage device, it is not ideally suited for compliancy applications as these applications are typically database driven requiring random access storage which is what optical delivers.
“The MSM 150 family combines the latest hardware and software technologies in an easy to use appliance package targeted to do one thing: “make compliant archival storage solutions network attached and open using proven industry standards, and it does it extremely well” said Scot Lamb, Founder CUC a 20 year storage solution company based in Corona, CA. “Mid-sized enterprises tend to be underserved, and we expect these solutions will be well received because they address the archival storage problems faced by businesses of all sizes.”
David Ball, Managing Director of OptoMedia a leading UK based Archival Storage Solution Provider added, “Making Archival Storage Simple & Open was created especially for customers in the mid-sized enterprise and SMB segments. The message from these customers was clear: – “We want open systems with advanced functionality, at an affordable price, packaged for simple deployment.” The MSM 150 is purpose-built with these requirements in mind, and StorageQuest has made it easier for our company to deliver them. Customers don’t simply want point products; they want a complete solution with a roadmap to support their future growth. “We see mid-sized enterprises are turning to us to consolidate and simplify their storage infrastructures as well as implement their archival solutions over the network the MSM 150 delivers this in an open system framework.”
Pricing and Availability:
The new StorageQuest MSM 150 is currently shipping and available from authorized StorageQuest distributors and resellers worldwide with pricing starting at $5,000.00 USD.
About StorageQuest
Since its inception in 1998, StorageQuest has pioneered technology, product, and open solutions that continue to drive the evolution of Net-attached optical storage. StorageQuest storage solutions include; network attached appliances, storage management software and services, providing seamless storage management for open network environments. StorageQuest, Inc. is headquartered in Ottawa, ON Canada; www.StorageQuest.com.