StarWind Enables Cloud Storage for IBM i System Line
StarWind, a
leading provider of hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) for Enterprise ROBO,
SMB, & Edge, introduces an affordable backup cloud storage for IBM i
systems. Seamless integration with an existing tape backup infrastructure is
achieved by emulating a tape library (VTL), the one IBM i knows how to deal
with. StarWind VTL is a complementary, rather than competitive, solution, where
the virtual tape provides an additional local backup copy for better resiliency
and faster recovery, with an extra copy offloaded to a cost-effective public
cloud. This air-gapped “extra” copy of the backup data, stored in an immutable
cloud, serves one more purpose – insurance against ransomware. Amazon AWS,
Google GCP, and Microsoft Azure are fully supported as backup destinations,
including long term storage like AWS Glacier, Google & Azure Archive. In
general, any S3-compatible cloud storage will work.
“Love it or hate it, but tapes are here to stay, and we're
dedicated to improving life with them. We're thrilled to provide IBM i systems
with a money-saving cloud storage they deserve. As of now more organizations can
achieve greater cost efficiency, better resiliency to ransomware, more of
flexibility, and scalability when it comes to their backup strategy,” said
Artem Berman, co-founding partner at StarWind.
Over 40,000 companies in the U.S. alone continue to rely on
IBM i systems to power critical operations. Various sectors such as finance,
banking, healthcare, manufacturing, telecommunications, logistics, government,
and others heavily depend on the non-stop data processing that IBM i systems
provide. Traditionally, these environments relied on IBM Backup, Recovery, and
Media Services (BRMS) for tape backup processing. Although tapes are
rock-solid, deadly-reliable, and provide best bang for the buck, they often
present limitations in backup and restore performance. Tapes are evolving over
the time, but any StarWind-powered all-flash VTL is always faster in both
backup and restore. Cost-efficiency is another consideration, as while tapes
are inexpensive, archival object storage in the cloud is even more budget-friendly
for long-term data retention. Air-gapped immutability is an important component
of ransomware resiliency, a crucial part of a comprehensive ransomware
prevention and recovery strategy.
"Algenol Biotech chose StarWind VTL because of its
reasonable price and required functionality. It was easily integrated into the
established backup and archival process of the company without any changes. In
addition, StarWind VTL automated and secured offsite backup and archival by
eliminating the human process, thereby determining the reliability of the
backup process. StarWind VTL provided the much-needed backup solution for the
control network of Algenol Biotech’s manufacturing plant, ensuring data
protection and integrity," said Tom Ziegler, Network Systems Administrator
at Algenol Biotech.
The seamless integration of StarWind VTL into existing
BRMS-centric backup infrastructures enables organizations to introduce a disk
& flash-based backup tier, which significantly improves backup and,
especially, restore performance. Additionally, the built-in cloud storage tier
enables the replication of backup and archive data to Amazon AWS, Google Cloud,
Microsoft Azure, Wasabi, Backblaze B2, and other cloud storage providers,
allowing to cut down the long-term data retention costs. This approach not only
boosts performance and cuts operational expenses but also capitalizes on
existing hardware and backup processes, optimizing overall IT efficiency
without duplicating efforts.
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