Quantum announced the launch of Xcellis workflow storage, the company’s next-generation storage system engineered to optimize demanding workflows.
Powered by Quantum’s StorNext scale-out storage platform, Xcellis can be deployed as a standalone system or as the primary storage component within a tiered storage environment incorporating object storage, tape and cloud technologies.
At the heart of the new system is the Xcellis Workflow Director, a converged compute, network and file system controller that integrates and streamlines the functionality of a StorNext environment.
The Workflow Director consolidates multiple components into a single system, simplifying the overall storage architecture, operation, management and access for third-party applications; controls file system metadata and client access for SAN, distributed LAN client (DLC) and NAS connectivity, and supports hosted applications that benefit from direct file access.
“Organizations have reached a tipping point where the amount of unstructured data growth has made traditional data storage methods unsustainable when it comes to data-intensive workloads,” Dave Frederick, senior director of product marketing for Quantum, told eWEEK. “They are finding that keeping their data on these traditional systems is too costly and requires too many admin hours to be sustainable. These organizations are increasingly finding that applying multi-tier storage enables them to reduce their overall storage costs as well as labor costs.”
Xcellis also provides built-in unified access to data, including high-performance Fibre Channel SAN connectivity, DLC connectivity for “better-than-Ethernet” performance over Ethernet and direct NAS connectivity.
“Too often, organizations treat different data types with a single approach. This is a shortcoming in data management. There needs to be an appreciation that different data has different demands depending on factors such as performance, retention requirements, and long-term strategic value,” Frederick explained. “All too often data is stored on the wrong medium resulting in either unacceptable performance or uncontrolled cost. Organizations also struggle with how to manage data across geographically dispersed teams, which can limit efficiency and disrupt workflows.”
In addition, because DLC and NAS connectivity are separately licensable options, users pay only for the base unit and the type of connectivity they want.
“As line of business owners deal with greater volumes of critical data, they’ll have to rely on storage systems designed to solve their problems, support their workflows, provide access for all their users, and keep pace with ever expanding data sets,” Frederick said. “I see IT and line of business owners working together to solve these problems to find a balance of infrastructure storage and workflow storage that enhances their contribution to the company’s mission.”