CHICAGO, IL, April 16, 2012 – Cleversafe Inc., the solution for limitless data storage, today announced a technology partnership with QStar Technologies, a leading global provider of enterprise-class archive and data management software. Through this partnership, users and storage administrators will be able to easily transfer, access and preserve valuable archive assets over standard NAS (Network-Attached Storage) file protocols for limitless scalability and with no system disruption. For companies that need a more cost efficient way to access and protect their data while increasing storage capacity to scale to Petabyte levels and beyond this solution delivers both performance and cost savings unrealized by traditional storage technologies.

QStar will provide customers with a Common Internet File System (CIFS) or Network File System (NFS) gateway as part of its Archive Manager solution to install into existing data centers. This gateway allows traditional file-based applications to access Cleversafe’s dispersed object-based storage system without additional changes to the applications.  As a result, customers will be able to easily ingest data, actively access it and preserve information for the future with the benefit of limitless scalability.

“For any company, the movement, management and storage of file-based data alongside large repositories of unstructured data is a very complex and tedious undertaking,” said Russ Kennedy, vice president of product strategy, marketing and customer solutions for Cleversafe. “Traditional file-based storage solutions just don’t offer the scalability, reliability and accessibility that a dispersed object-based solution, such as Cleversafe’s does,” said Kennedy. “By leveraging QStar’s innovative gateway solution clients can now ensure data stored in an active archive is done so in a simple, secure and fluid transaction.”

Cleversafe’s object-based storage solution is 100 million times more reliable than traditional RAID-based systems. Its information dispersal capabilities reduce storage costs up to 90 percent while meeting compliance requirements and ensuring protection against data loss, whether it’s latent hardware errors, data corruption or malicious threats. Cleversafe virtualizes, transforms and disperses data using patented Information Dispersal Algorithms and distributes the slices to separate disks, storage nodes and across geographic locations. Even with individual servers or entire sites down, data can easily be reconstructed and retrieved in real time, bit perfect.

“QStar recognizes the industry need for a smarter and more cost-effective approach to access, protect and preserve Big Data within archives,” said David Thomson, senior vice president sales and marketing, QStar Technologies. “Our partnership with Cleversafe fits extremely well with our best practices for data protection and reinforces our business proposition to build a resilient archive strategy for the long term preservation of data,” said Thomson.

Cleversafe will be showcasing this solution at NAB April 16-19, 2012 in Las Vegas. Cleversafe’s booth is SL14310.

Tweet this: @Cleversafe and QStar form technology partnership for file-based gateway to Big Data active archives.

About QStar Technologies  QStar Technologies is a leading provider of enterprise-class archive and data management software and solutions. The world’s leading companies rely on QStar for secure, cost effective and reliable storage protection of their valuable digital assets.  QStar’s gateway software can be installed on Windows, Linux, AIX, HP-UX, Solaris or Mac servers and in a virtual machine environment.  web: www.qstar.com  email: info_us@qstar.com

About Cleversafe Inc. Cleversafe has created a breakthrough technology that solves petabyte and beyond big data storage problems. This solution drives up to 90 percent of the storage cost out of the business while enabling secure and reliable global access and collaboration. The world’s largest data repositories rely on Cleversafe. To learn more about Cleversafe and its solutions, please visit www.cleversafe.com, call 312-423-6640 or email us at sales@cleversafe.com.

Resources  

Cleversafe and QStar Solution Brief: http://www.cleversafe.com/images/pdf/qstar_cleversafe_solution_FINAL_letter.pdf

Cleversafe Products: http://www.cleversafe.com/products/flexibility-of-choice

QStar Products:  http://www.qstar.com/products/

Cleversafe’s Technology – How it Works: http://www.cleversafe.com/overview/how-cleversafe-works

Cleversafe on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Cleversafe

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Media contacts:

Deborah Mullan

Lois Paul & Partners, for Cleversafe

deborah_mullan@lpp.com

925-383-7765   

Linda Thomson

Global Marketing Director, QStar Technologies

l.thomson@qstar.com

850-240-6015

Amsterdam, 6 March, 2012 – Imation Corp. (NYSE: IMN), a global scalable storage and data security company, and QStar Technologies, Inc., a leading global provider of enterprise-class archive and data management software, today announced certification of QStar Archive Manager software with  Imation’s RDX® A8 Hard Disk Storage Library, delivering flexible, low-cost, enterprise-level active archive solutions for small and medium-sized businesses  (SMBs). The solution, part of Imation’s scalable storage portfolio, will be showcased 6-10 March at Imation Stand H20 in Hall 14 at CeBIT 2012 in Hannover,  Germany.

Imation’s RDX A8 Hard Disk Storage Library offers up to 8 terabytes of online capacity with unlimited offline capacity for scalability. The solution also ensures reliable performance of data-intensive business operations, delivering the scalability, portability and cost of tape, with the speed and durability of disk. The multi-bay Imation RDX A8 makes this industry-standard technology a clear choice for managing large volumes of data quickly and reliably, and the Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) network connection enables seamless integration into existing infrastructures. The forward and backward  compatibility of RDX standard technology provides investment protection for budget conscious SMBs.  

“QStar Archive Manager software provides a flexible open interface that can be installed on servers using a range of operating systems including Windows, Linux, UNIX or Mac,” said Patrick Bertschat, Product Marketing Manager, Scalable Storage, Imation Europe. “QStar software virtualizes the RDX A8 Hard Disk Storage Library, allowing users to see the archive as a file share or mount point. This enables users to efficiently search and retrieve data directly from the archive. Multiple media can be seen as a single share including media that has been removed from the library and is offline.”

In addition to QStar Archive Manager software, QStar Archive Replicator software can be used to replicate data to off-site archives with a second archive store using RDX making it ideal for disaster recovery because it further protects and preserves an organization’s valuable digital assets.

“QStar is pleased to expand our long-standing endorsement of Imation media products to now include support for Imation’s RDX A8 solution,” said Dave Thomson, senior vice president of sales and marketing for QStar Technologies. “RDX is an ideal technology for archiving. It provides fast random access to any file, like disk, and is also cost-effective, as it can be removed to facilitate infinite archive expansion and create disaster recovery copies.”

Imation direct attach RDX and LTO Libraries are also QStar certified.

Imation’s scalable storage portfolio brings affordable, reliable data protection and tiered archiving to today’s data-intensive SMBs.  

Availability

Imation’s RDX A8 Hard Disk Storage Library is currently available at authorized Imation value-added resellers. Contact QStar or Imation for more information and pricing.

About QStar Technologies

QStar Technologies is a leading provider of enterprise-class archive and data management software and solutions. The world’s leading companies rely on QStar for secure, cost effective and reliable storage protection of their valuable digital assets. www.qstar.com.  

About Imation

Imation is a global scalable storage and data security company. Our portfolio includes tiered storage and security offerings for business, and products designed to manage audio and video information in the home. Imation reaches customers in more than 100 countries through a powerful global distribution network and well recognized brands. For more information please visit www.imation.eu.

Imation and the Imation logo are trademarks of Imation Corp.  RDX is a registered trademark of Tandberg Data ASA. QStar and the QStar Technologies logo are registered trademarks of QStar Technologies. All rights reserved worldwide. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

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Mary Esther, Florida — February 16, 2012 — QStar Technologies, Inc. is pleased to announce it has signed a Star Partner agreement with Advanced Systems Group (ASG), a national Open Systems integrator, for its archive and data management software products and solutions.

Through this partnership, Advanced Systems Group can offer Active Archive solutions throughout North America with QStar’s industry standard, technology-neutral archive management software.  An Active Archive creates a self supporting archive tier that provides long-term data security with easy data retrieval and compliance to government or industry regulations.  Using QStar Archive Manager software, customers can achieve substantial cost savings through decreased primary storage requirements and the associated administration costs of backup and restore. Using one or more storage technologies allows organizations to create an archive tier that meets all their needs; low-cost, secure, fast and resilient.

“Advanced Systems Group has an outstanding reputation in providing storage solutions that use the right technologies and vendors that best address the customer’s issues.  Their highly trained engineers are the most knowledgeable technical people available in the industry,” said Dave Thomson, senior vice president sales and marketing for QStar Technologies. “As a global software provider, QStar relies on our valuable partner network to provide end users the best possible archive design, support and training for our archive and data management solutions.”

“Advanced Systems Group sees archiving as a growing market, and we understand the benefits that an Active Archive concept can bring to our new and existing customers,” said Mark Teter, Chief Technology Officer of Advanced Systems Group. “QStar provides proven archive management that leverages the benefits of many of Advanced Systems Group’s existing partners. QStar’s flexible solution allows archived data to be stored on fast disk storage from HP, IBM, or HDS with an additional store to Spectra Logic or Quantum tape libraries, or DISC optical libraries.  Additionally, front end archive applications for e-mail or Microsoft SharePoint can be used from companies such as Symantec or ArcMail.

About QStar Technologies
QStar Technologies is a leading provider of enterprise-class archive and data management software and solutions. QStar software is a key element to creating an Active Archive that is operating system and storage hardware independent. The world’s leading companies rely on QStar for secure, cost effective and reliable storage protection of their valuable digital assets. www.qstar.com

About ASG
As a national Open Systems integrator, Advanced Systems Group provides comprehensive consulting services, successful storage and data management solutions, assessments, and implementation services to help customers meet today’s IT and business challenges. In particular, ASG focuses on customer needs, customizing unique solutions and successfully addressing companies’ particular IT challenges. As a consistent member of the VAR Business Top 500, ASG pursues active involvement in the industry, maintaining the highest level of engineering certifications with partners and the vendor community. www.virtual.com

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QStar Technologies Media Contact:
Linda Thomson, Global Marketing Director
l.thomson@qstar.com
850-240-6015
 
Advanced Systems Group Media Contact:
Amy Besoushko, Marketing Director
amyb@virtual.com
303.301.3047

Mary Esther, Florida — October 12, 2011 — QStar Technologies, Inc., a global leader in enterprise class archive and data management software, and Tandberg Data, a global supplier of data protection solutions, announced today a combined solution to provide SMBs and SMEs with a flexible open platform delivering active data archive management  and removable disk offsite disaster protection. The solution combines QStar’s HSM open platform archive management software with the Tandberg Data RDX^® QuikStation™, an iSCSI-attached, removable disk library designed to provide a multi-cartridge platform for short-, medium-, or long-term archiving.

QStar HSM Archive Management software provides a flexible open interface that helps to make the Tandberg Data RDX QuikStation an obvious archive solution for SMBs  through SMEs and is particularly well suited for businesses that rely on small IT departments and limited budgets. It can be easily installed on servers using a range of operating systems including Windows, Linux, UNIX and Mac. Using the RDX QuikStation LTO library emulation mode, QStar allows multiple RDX cartridges to be seen as a single share (drive letter) or mount point. Using non-proprietary operating system search engines, users can actively search and retrieve archived files.  All metadata is retained on a disk cache within the chosen server platform, so even files on an RDX cartridge that have been removed from the RDX QuikStation can be found.  Once an offline file is accessed, an email notification is automatically sent to the administrator to request the media be returned to the RDX QuikStation.

“Archives need to cope with the constant growth of data. With the use of QStar software, an unlimited capacity can be incrementally created, simplifying the management of the archive,” said Dave Thomson, senior vice president of sales and marketing for QStar Technologies. “QStar can support up to 256 8-dock RDX QuikStation units within a single archive, equivalent to over 2,000 online cartridges, as well as support an infinite number of offline cartridges.”

“A key advantage of using RDX technology for archiving is its ability to future proof the storage platform,” said Marije Gould, vice president of marketing at Tandberg Data. “All past and future RDX cartridges are supported within the RDX QuikStation, allowing customers to choose the cartridge capacity they require today and add capacity as needed, without costly and time-consuming drive or platform upgrades.”

Gould continued, “With over 200PB of RDX cartridges sold, RDX technology is accepted as the market leader in removable hard disks and lends itself extremely well to archiving, with RDX cartridges boasting a lifespan in excess of 10 years. It offers the speed of disk with the portability of tape. With the support of QStar HSM software the RDX QuikStation is positioned to dominate the small–to-medium archive markets.”

A combined archive solution consisting of Tandberg Data’s RDX QuikStation and QStar’s HSM offers:

• Actively accessible archived data
• High performance and low-cost archive
• Choice of server platform – Windows, Linux, UNIX or Mac
• Capacity flexibility – multiple 8-dock units supported
• Removability – online and offline RDX media
• Retention management to meet internal compliance requirements
• Secure offsite copy for disaster protection
• Optional encryption and replication
• Optional policy-based tiered storage that pushes data to RDX from RAID

Availability
QStar HSM Archive Management software and the Tandberg Data RDX QuikStation are available immediately. Please contact QStar or Tandberg Data directly, or authorized value-added resellers for more information and pricing.  

About QStar Technologies
QStar Technologies is a leading provider of enterprise-class archive, data management and disaster prevention software and solutions. QStar offers a complete archive and data management platform that is operating system and storage hardware independent. The world’s leading companies rely on QStar for secure, cost effective and reliable storage protection of their valuable digital assets. www.qstar.com

About Tandberg Data
Tandberg Data is a leading global supplier of data protection solutions for small and medium-sized businesses.  The company’s wide range of cost-effective storage products and services provides customers with best-in-class tape, disk, removable disk and software solutions for backup, archiving and disaster recovery.  These solutions are marketed through a global channel of qualified resellers, distributors and major server OEMs.  An extensive service and support network undergirds all Tandberg Data products worldwide.  For further information, please visit:  http://www.tandbergdata.com

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Media Contact:

QStar Technologies

Linda Thomson, Global Marketing Director

l.thomson@qstar.com

850-240-6015

Tandberg Data

Susan Merriman, Global Marketing Manager

smerriman@tandbergdta.com

303-417-7110

Tandberg Data, the Tandberg Data logo and RDX are registered trademarks of Tandberg Data.  RDX QuikStation is a trademark of Tandberg Data. QStar and the QStar Technologies logo are registered trademarks of QStar Technologies. All rights reserved worldwide.

Santa Clara, CA / Mary Esther, FL – August 31, 2011 – Amplidata, an innovator in unbreakable Object Storage, and QStar Technologies, a global leader in enterprise class archive and data management software, today announced a partnership to combine technologies and bring a joint solution to market that leverages Amplidata’s AmpliStor and QStar’s file and archive management platform. The joint solution will be introduced at IBC, Europe’s largest tradeshow for media and entertainment.

This two-way partnership will enable both companies to leverage each other’s technologies, as well as provide an opportunity to broadly market joint solutions created by their products. Amplidata’s customers will benefit from the joint solutions by enabling simplified access to Amplidata’s AmpliStor Optimized Object Storage platform through standard NAS protocols via the QStar file gateway. QStar’s customers will now have access to an ultra-scalable and self-managing Object Storage platform for enabling Petabyte-scale storage archives with a dramatically new low cost of ownership.

QStar’s data management software also provides Amplidata customers with an advanced set of capabilities to enable integration into a tiered storage environment, geographic data replication, and data retention and deletion policies. These capabilities enable advanced solutions to be implemented on AmpliStor including archival solutions with automated policy-based data movement between tiers, disaster recovery with multiple geographically distributed sites, and long-term compliance solutions that enforce data retention & purging requirements.

Amplidata’s AmpliStor is a petabyte-scale Object Storage system for unstructured data applications. It provides the highest levels of storage durability and availability at the lowest possible cost. AmpliStor features patent-pending technology that is optimized for where RAID fails, on multi-terabyte disk drives. The technology enables customers to build active archives that do not require backups and which are highly cost-efficient. By cutting the drive and power requirements by up to 70%, customers can expect up to 90% cost savings over traditional disk storage solutions.

“This partnership provides a tremendous opportunity for any company looking to economically store or archive large amounts of data, from media and entertainment to healthcare and other industries managing large unstructured data” said Riccardo Finotti, President and CEO of QStar Technologies. “When we looked closely at the technology from Amplidata, it was clear that with their BitSpread technology, they have introduced a next generation Object Storage solution, bringing significant advantages to the table over what is currently available”.

“QStar is an ideal partner for Amplidata, as it provides us with a perfect front end for our solution and will significantly improve time to market, something our customers have been asking for,” said Wim De Wispelaere, CEO of Amplidata. “This collaboration of technologies is truly symbiotic as it combines our leading-edge storage solution and preserves the natural way that people are accustomed to storing data, by using QStar’s CIFS / NFS archive gateway.”

The combined solution will be available for a full demonstration at IBC 2011 in Amsterdam, September 9-13 in the Amplidata booth. Located in Hall 6, Stand Number 6.A05.

About Amplidata

Amplidata was founded in 2008 with a team of storage veterans who developed an Optimized Object Storage (OOS) system specifically for unstructured data. The solution, called AmpliStor, provides “Ten 9’s” of storage durability, high-performance and power efficiency at the lowest possible cost of ownership. AmpliStor scales to Petabytes and beyond, and requires 50-70% less storage capacity to protect data compared to alternative solutions. Amplidata has its operational and R&D headquarters in Lochristi, Belgium, with US operations based in Redwood City, CA.  www.amplidata.com.

About QStar

QStar Technologies is a leading provider of enterprise-class archive, data management and disaster prevention software and solutions. QStar offers a complete archive and data management platform that is operating system and storage hardware independent. QStar storage virtualization software makes any archive technology easily accessible through standard network protocols. The world’s leading companies rely on QStar for secure, cost effective and reliable storage protection of their valuable digital assets. www.qstar.com

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Amplidata Contact
Tom Leyden
+32 473 92 22 11
Tom.leyden@amplidata.com

QStar Contact
Linda Thomson
+1 850-240-6015
l.thomson@qstar.com

Mary Esther, Florida — June 22, 2011 — QStar Technologies, Inc., a global leader in enterprise-class archive and data management software, today unveiled QStar Retention Manager for Disk, a software that enables organizations to create simple, low-cost archives using RAID or Disk, that will help to meet internal corporate file retention governance.

Retention Manager for Disk is exceptionally flexible and cost effective, as underutilized capacities or portions of any direct attached or network shared, disk or RAID can be used to create an archive.  It is ideal for low capacity archives (up to 16TB), which retain healthcare images, email (PST) files, company documents, quotations, or any set of files that have a pre-determined useful life.

In accordance with internal corporate governance policies and procedures, specific policies can be created per data set, allowing variable grace periods, retention periods and type of file disposition.  Files are converted to Read-Only (WORM), which reduces risk of unintentional or malicious deletion of business records or regulated data.  The software also includes Legal Hold, in case of a discovery order.  Data sets are easily shared using CIFS or NFS, for use by individuals, groups or applications.

 QStar Retention Manager for Disk software is available for Windows, Linux, UNIX or Mac servers.  The software can be easily upgraded to add removable media (tape, optical or RDX) for additional levels of file protection and redundancy.

 “It is important to create archive solutions for all budgets. Retention Manager for Disk is based on QStar HSM Archive Management software, which has over 7,000 installations worldwide. By stripping away support for removable media, Cloud or CAS / Object Storage, QStar has created a flexible and low-cost offering, as an entry point to archiving, using standard server and disk or RAID hardware. It gives organizations an alternative to expensive NAS based disk archive appliances” said Dave Thomson, senior vice president, sales and marketing, QStar Technologies.

 Features and benefits include:

• Software can be installed on existing or non-dedicated disk or RAID
• File properties can be converted to Read-Only (WORM)
• Legal Hold feature prevents purging of files related to a specific legal incident
• Industry standard CIFS and NFS supported
• Open System support for Windows, Linux, UNIX and Mac
• Encryption or Digital Signature options extend file security
• Create low-cost archive using existing disk or RAID
• Reduce risk of unintentional or malicious deletion of business records and regulated data
• Records are retained in accordance with your corporate governance policies and procedures
• Easy data access and software integration.
• No proprietary API is required.

Availability

QStar Retention Manager for Disk software is available immediately. Please contact QStar or QStar authorized value-added reseller for more information and pricing.  info@qstar.com

About QStar Technologies

QStar Technologies is a leading provider of enterprise-class archive, data management and disaster prevention software and solutions. QStar offers a complete archive and data management platform that is operating system and storage hardware independent. The world’s leading companies rely on QStar for secure, cost effective and reliable storage protection of their valuable digital assets. www.qstar.com

QStar supports the use of the 3-2-1 Archiving and Data Protection Best Practice endorsed by leading storage analysts, which advocates that 3 copies of all business critical data be retained on 2 different types of storage media, and at least 1 copy should be stored at a secondary remote site for disaster recovery. For more information about 3-2-1: http://www.qstar.com/company/3-2-1-best-practice/ 

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Media Contact:

QStar Technologies

Linda Thomson, Global Marketing Director

l.thomson@qstar.com

850-240-6015

Mary Esther, Florida — April 19, 2011 — QStar Technologies, Inc., a global leader in enterprise-class archive and data management software, today unveiled QStar HSM Synchronous Archive Replicator, a software offering that allows end users and resellers to build  “hybrid archives” that can utilize various multiple storage technologies, including RAID, tape, optical, CAS, object storage, cloud or removable hard disk, to deliver flexible and affordable data retrieval. QStar HSM Synchronous Archive Replicator enables organizations to benefit from scalable long-term data storage and robust disaster prevention without the constraints associated with conventional archiving solutions.

Hybrid archives can be both fast and secure and offer high levels of flexibility to easily integrate with new technologies as they become available. QStar’s HSM Synchronous Archive Replicator can present up to four different technologies within the archive through a shared drive or mount point, allowing easy file search and retrieval. In addition, it automatically replicates data to various storage media/architectures, either local or remote, for disaster recovery purposes.  Like all QStar software, most standard operating systems are supported including Windows, UNIX, Linux and Mac OS X.

Traditional methods of archiving are often not suited to address the multitude of requirements organizations must meet today; archives need not only be secure and reliable to protect and recover data in the event of a disaster, they also need to be ‘active’ so that files can be easily accessed. The systematic retrieval of large volumes of data, often required as a result of internal organizational searches or discovery orders, can be time consuming using traditional technologies. QStar HSM Synchronous Archive Replicator eliminates such compromises.

“Data often outlives the storage technology it is placed on, which is what spurred us to develop HSM Synchronous Archive Replicator. By enabling our customers to create hybrid archives, we free them from vendor lock-in and future-proof their archiving infrastructure investments,” said Dave Thomson, senior vice president, sales and marketing, QStar Technologies.

 Features and benefits include:

• Multiple technology support – up to four copies to disk, tape, optical, CAS, cloud or removable hard disk
• Replication to multiple sites using iSCSI, FC or WAN technology
• Operating system-independent: support for Windows, Linux, Unix and Mac
• Optimization of IT infrastructure
• Elimination of backup overhead for archive data
• Delivery of robust availability for archive data
• Creation of a foundation for regulatory compliance

Availability

QStar HSM Archive Replicator software is available immediately. Please contact QStar for more information and pricing.  info@qstar.com

About QStar Technologies

QStar Technologies is a leading provider of enterprise-class archive, data management and disaster prevention software and solutions. QStar offers a complete archive and data management platform that is operating system and storage hardware independent. The world’s leading companies rely on QStar for secure, cost effective and reliable storage protection of their valuable digital assets. www.qstar.com

QStar supports the use of the 3-2-1 Archiving and Data Protection Best Practice endorsed by leading storage analysts, which advocates that 3 copies of all business critical data be retained on 2 different types of storage media, and at least 1 copy should be stored at a secondary remote site for disaster recovery. For more information about 3-2-1: http://www.qstar.com/company/3-2-1-best-practice/ 

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Media Contact:

QStar Technologies

Linda Thomson, Global Marketing Director

l.thomson@qstar.com

850-240-6015

Introducing QStar Object Storage Manager; To Petabytes and Beyond!

Providing Intelligent Management of Exceedingly Large Volumes of Unstructured Data

Mary Esther, Florida – Nov 10, 2010 – QStar Technologies, Inc., a global leader in enterprise-class archive and data management software, today announced QStar Object Storage Manager (OSM), a new approach to ease the challenges of managing and archiving rapidly-growing unstructured data. OSM software provides tremendous cost savings by removing the need for backup through archiving, and by eliminating future costly data migration as new storage, servers or infrastructures can replace retired technologies seamlessly. Healthcare, media and entertainment, government, and research/education organizations, who are managing tens or hundreds of Terabytes of data today, and who are planning for Petabyes in the future, can all benefit from this self-managing/self-healing, secure, object-based storage solution.

Object-based storage allows large quantities of data to be stored in a more intelligent, efficient and secure manner than traditional file systems, making it ideal for long-term archiving and cloud storage. QStar’s OSM stores data to disk as objects rather than files, allowing a significantly larger store to be created, one that can grow to include billions of objects. There is no subdirectory structure within OSM as each object is given a unique hash and replicated a user defined number of times to unique disk locations. Should an object become corrupt or a disk fail, OSM automatically recreates the object to a new location, maintaining the user defined number of copies at all times.

QStar’s OSM includes a back-end object storage system containing servers (nodes) with disk storage and a front-end CIFS / NFS Gateway server. The system will typically use low-cost SATA disks, which can be directly attached to each node, or SATA disk arrays connected through iSCSI, providing increased fault tolerance. Nodes can be 1U rack-mount or blade servers and feature two Ethernet switches: a front-end and back-end switch. The first clusters server nodes, allowing many to appear as one through a single IP connection; the back-end switch allows any-to-any node communication to improve performance by load balancing read or write requests.

Like all QStar software, OSM is hardware independent, allowing System Integrators to help their customers break free from vendor lock-in, and reduce storage costs by using lower-cost, industry-standard servers and hard disks or disk systems. Unlike the traditional file-based approach, an object-storage infrastructure allows “future proofing” by smoothly integrating new technologies as they become available. They are easily integrated in existing storage environments and automatically recognized and added to the cluster. For example, a failed 1TB disk drive can be replaced with a new 8TB disk drive, which will automatically be recognized as 8TB and added to the archive capacity.

In addition, retention management is built into QStar’s OSM, allowing objects to be stored securely for a user-defined period and then deleted once lapsed. This flexible solution also provides options for the use of removable media for disaster prevention by storing additional copies of the data offsite through replication or manual removal. This significantly reduces the cost of the overall archive and provides additional levels of data security and permanence.

“In an archive environment, slower performance is often a trade-off. QStar’s Object Storage Manager allows archives to be created using self-managing SATA disk systems. Archived data can therefore be accessed quickly and yet still retained securely, until the defined retention period elapses. Uniquely, OSM allows data to be moved to removable media, such as tape or optical, for additional layers of data security, disaster prevention and cost reduction.” said Dave Thomson, Sr VP Sales and Marketing, QStar Technologies.

Summary of features include:
Support for Windows, Linux, Unix and Mac servers or clients
Self-managing / self-healing features automatically rebuild lost copies of data to new storage locations
Future proofing design allows new disk capacities to be added and their full capacities used
Back-end TCP/IP switch allows communication between nodes, load balancing read and write requests to improve overall performance.
Retention management with Legal Hold prevents accidental deletion of data during an e-discovery process
Encryption options are available, allowing only authorized access to on-line and off-line archive objects
Disaster prevention strategies, to create remote stores to a secondary OSM system, NAS, tape or optical libraries.
Easy user interface.

Availability
QStar Object Storage Manager (OSM) software is available immediately to qualified system integrators and partners; please contact info@qstar.com for more information.

Web resources

http://www.qstar.com/qstar-products/qstar-object-storage-manager

http://www.qstar.com/images/qstar/data_sheets/qstar_osm_m.pdf

About QStar Technologies
QStar Technologies is a leading provider of enterprise-class archive, data management and disaster prevention software and solutions. QStar offers a complete archive and data management platform that is operating system and storage hardware independent, including RAID, CAS, tape or optical. The world’s leading companies rely on QStar for the secure, cost effective and reliable storage protection of their valuable digital assets. www.qstar.com

BD-R (recordable) and BD-RE (rewritable) media were first introduced with a single layer version at 25GB and a dual layer version at 50GB.  BDXL offers an increase in both bit density and additional layers, with a 100GB three layer or 128GB four layer media technology. Blu-ray based archive solutions offer exceptional value for money for the small to medium enterprise and have been widely accepted in markets such as document management, video surveillance, forensics and to create legally admissible formats. Like all optical based technologies, the media offers a random read capability, significantly improving load times compared to tape technology, which uses sequential access.

QStar HSM Archive Manager software creates an active archive by virtualizing one or more optical libraries behind a file system using CIFS or NFS protocol and presenting the archive as a platform specific drive share or mount.  Users can actively search, find and recall data directly from the archive. Should additional performance be required, for email archiving etc, the optical library can be paired with RAID, which would provide the performance copy and respond quickly in the event of a discovery order. The Blu-ray media creates a secure copy for long-term preservation and a second copy to Blu-ray creates an offsite disaster prevention copy.

Optionally, by using QStar Network Migrator software’s advanced policy management, customers can intelligently move static or unstructured data from primary storage into an optical library, creating a tiered storage environment for storage optimization.

QStar HSM Archive Manager and Network Migrator software are available immediately to support the optical libraries using the new 100GB and 128GB BDXL Blu-ray drives and media, from DISC and HIT.  All QStar software supports standard operating systems including Windows, UNIX, Linux and Mac OS X.

About QStar Technologies

QStar Technologies is a leading provider of enterprise class archive, data management and disaster prevention software and solutions. QStar offers a complete archive and data management platform that is operating system and storage hardware independent. The world’s leading companies rely on QStar for secure, cost effective and reliable storage protection of their valuable digital assets. www.qstar.com

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QStar Technologies Media Contact:

Linda Thomson, Global
Marketing Director

l.thomson@qstar.com

850-240-6015