Quantum unleashes more robots on tape libraries
Key manager interoperability coming
SaaS data loss: The problem you didn’t know you had
Quantum is doubling up the robotics in its i6000 Scalar tape library to increase reliability.
The i6000 is Quantum's high-end library, supporting up to 5,332 tape cartridges. Like other libraries it uses a robotic system to move tape cartridges from slots in the library to drives. If the robot fails then the library fails and cartridges can't be moved; it is a single point of failure. A second robot will be added in the second half of this year, fixing this vulnerability.
High-end libraries from Oracle (StreamLine) and SpectraLogic (T-Finity) already support dual robotics.
Quantum is also adding support for the key manager interoperability protocol (KMIP) v1.0 to both the i6000 and i500 products later this year. It says, "KMIP is an encryption key management standard that will enable the implementation of a centralised key management strategy for customers looking to centrally manage keys. They will be able to attach their Scalar libraries to any KMIP-compliant key management device."
The i6000 supports data path failover and FIPS-validated encryption and these two features will also be added to the i500.
The company says it has now shipped more than 35,000 Scalar libraries to customers. ®
COMMENTS
robot wars
Quantum should take the Nokia approach: Several competing teams design robots. Quantum puts all of them into production simultaneously. If the robot designs are completely different then the chance of a bizarre firmware bug or bearing failure would be unlikely to take out both robots at once. (but if the competition was too intense, perhaps the teams would design the robots to destroy each other, like Robot Wars) If one design fails, all the failing design's team members will be...
...made redundant!
Beware ..... Caveat Emptor
"A second robot will be added in the second half of this year, fixing this vulnerability."
Are the robots similar or will they be completely different from each other but perfectly compatible and complementary, for any similarity in the two will always allow for a common point of joint failure which will fail catastrophically and/or be vulnerable to competitive exploitation which renders the primary mission unfulfilled in the first instance, and system perceived and pimped as being more reliable and therefore more secure, actually a perfect stealthy trojan horse vehicle.
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