If I had to put my finger on the biggest buzz for the data storage industry so far this year, I’d say “active” and “archive” are the words on everyone’s lips. Active archive is a concept that’s been picking up steam over the course of this year so far, and for good reason.
Wondering what active archive is all about? Here are the basics.
Active archive is “a combined solution of open systems applications, disk and tape hardware that allows users to access all of their data, and gives you an effortless means to store and manage all of your data,” according to the Active Archive Alliance.
To put it even more simply, George Crump of Storage Switzerland has defined active archive as “essentially putting a file system front end to a tape library. This means that users and applications can interact with the tape library in similar fashion as they do a disk array.”
In other words, organizations can make data readily accessible without footing the bill for, and managing the overwhelming process of, storing every kilobyte of data—both frequently accessed and inactive—online. Companies can store only the most frequently accessed data on disk and the rest on tape—a medium that’s relatively inexpensive, reliable and well suited for storing masses of data for the long term.
It’s no surprise that active archiving is welcome news as the data explosion continues and we search for efficient, cost-effective ways to corral and store those seemingly infinite volumes of data. As data growth continues to accelerate, I predict that more and more organizations will turn to active archives incorporating tape as part of the solution.
What's your thoughts on active archive? Do you see value in this approach? let us know in the comments section.
Online Backup Software should have File Archiving features. So that one can retrieve any version of the backed up file. Some backup solution provides unlimited file versioning facility.
Posted by: Randy@OnlineBackup | July 11, 2011 at 05:47 AM