Today’s Information Technology organizations are experiencing unprecedented growth of digital data. Industry analysts are projecting growth rates as high as 40% annually. There are a variety of sources for this growth, and it varies by industry. The cost-effective management and protection of such large quantities of data present significant challenges to information technology management. Many organizations have implemented a strategy to archive object storage for less frequently accessed data to help meet this challenge. As less frequently accessed data continues to grow (analyst project that 80% of data is cold), companies can continue to purchase more object storage and/or opt to move data to the cloud. Purchasing additional object storage may not work with tightened IT budgets, and any cost savings achieved by moving data to the cloud is often mitigated or worsened if any of that data is recalled.
Fujifilm’s recently announced Object Archive Solution is an innovative approach to this challenge. Instead of purchasing more object storage and/or sending object data to the cloud, the data is packaged and stored locally on an automated tape library. The Object Archive Solution presents an S3-compatible interface to the object management layer and then packs the objects into a new, open format called the OTFormat. These objects are then written to a tape library. It is like having cloud storage but in your data center. The local storage of the objects eliminates any costs associated with the restoration of data from the cloud. It is scalable, and avoids any compliance or regulatory issues with saving confidential data in the cloud. It also stores the objects on the lowest cost storage available today, tape. The off-line nature of tape (the air gap) not only mitigates but eliminates any risk of cyberthreats.
Fujifilm has also taken an innovative approach to the packaging of the solution. Object Archive is offered as a subscription-based on the amount of data stored and the term of the license. In addition to the software, the subscription includes support and enough tape media for two copies of the data. For more information on this innovative solution, go to this link: Fujifilm Object Archive