ADIC Introduces Major Upgrade to Intelligent Enterprise Tape Library.REDMOND, Wash. -- Scalar scalar, quantity or number possessing only sign and magnitude, e.g., the real numbers (see number), in contrast to vectors and tensors; scalars obey the rules of elementary algebra. Many physical quantities have scalar values, e.g. i2000 Offers Smart New Management Features and Doubles Capacity; Unique Diagnostics Approach Reduces Service Calls by 50% Advanced Digital Information Corporation (Nasdaq:ADIC), the leader in Intelligent Storage(TM) solutions for the open systems market, today announced a major upgrade to the hardware platform and management software of the Scalar i2000(R), the company's intelligent enterprise tape library. In the new release, the Scalar i2000's integral iLayer management software introduces four important industry "firsts" for the tape library market which enable customers to reduce the time they spend managing their back-up process. These capabilities include true hot swap To pull out a component from a system and plug in a new one while the main power is still on. Also called "hot plug" and "hot insertion," hot swap is a feature of USB devices, allowing an external drive, network adapter or other peripheral to be plugged in without having to power down the drives, drive firmware A category of memory chips that hold their content without electrical power. Firmware includes flash, ROM, PROM, EPROM and EEPROM technologies. When holding program instructions, firmware can be thought of as "hard software." See flash memory, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM and FOTA. auto-leveling, native SMI-S SMI-S Storage Management Initiative - Specification (SNIA) support, and integrated drive utilization reporting. The Scalar i2000 also increases its total capacity by more than 100%, now offering scalable capacity from 100 to 3492 tape cartridges See cartridge. , making it ideal for backup consolidation in large, complex enterprise environments. The Scalar i2000 library upgrade also adds enhancements to its relational diagnostic(TM) logic, expanding its logging capabilities to include additional traffic between the host and the library as well as increasing the amount of diagnostic data that can be stored in the library. Relational diagnostics(TM), ADIC's unique approach to library diagnostics, automatically selects, gathers, synchronizes, and analyzes library log data, reducing service calls by 50% and shortening issue resolution by 30% compared to conventional libraries. ADIC also announced today that the Scalar i2000 and its relational diagnostics(TM) is now supported by ADIC's new iSurety(TM) service approach. ADIC's iSurety uses remote data access technology to link ADIC's technical service expertise with customers, their libraries, and their backup system Noun 1. backup system - a computer system for making backups ADP system, ADPS, automatic data processing system, computer system, computing system - a system of one or more computers and associated software with common storage diagnostic data. (See today's related announcement, "ADIC Introduces Innovative Service Approach to Backup Systems.") iSurety provides faster and more certain resolution of complex, system-wide issues by giving ADIC's service specialists remote, interactive access to diagnostic data that includes information from the user's backup software See backup program. (tool, software) backup software - Software for doing a backup, often included as part of the operating system. Backup software should provide ways to specify what files get backed up and to where. , SAN fabric, and other storage ecosystem devices. This is the first time a diagnostic tool associated with a library has been able to extend remote diagnostics Vehicle Diagnostics Vehicle diagnostics enables a mechanic to diagnose the exact mechanical condition of the vehicle and its systems and components. Remote Diagnostics enables to perform such diagnosis without requiring the vehicle to physically be present for checkup. out into the customer's storage ecosystem. "Conventional libraries force users to manage backup systems manually or to deploy complicated external tools," said Bill Britts Bill Britt is one of the most successful Independent Business Owners (IBOs) in the Amway/Quixtar business. In 2002, together with his wife Peggy Britt, qualified for the corporations highest award; Founders Crown Ambassador. , ADIC executive vice president of sales and marketing. The Scalar i2000 changes that model by building our intelligent iLayer management software into the library platform to provide better management and a different, more effective approach to diagnostics. Now we are setting the bar higher, with features like auto-firmware management, true hot swap drive technology, built-in drive utilization reporting, and full SMI-S support. When you add the new level of support our iSurety service provides, the end result is superior data protection, a greatly reduced backup management burden, and much higher overall system integrity." "Better management is critical to help IT departments reduce the time they spend managing enterprise back-up," said Dianne McAdam, senior analyst and partner, Data Mobility Group. "In its new Scalar i2000 upgrade, ADIC is leading the way by providing standards-based tape management that includes native SMI-S support. This upgrade not only gives end-users intelligent library management, but also makes it easier for them to use a single set of tools to manage disk and tape together in multi-technology environments." Smarter Management Tools The Scalar i2000 offers powerful new management features designed to make the system even easier to manage, increase its overall reliability, and integrate into the broad storage management environment. For a full list of the Scalar i2000's new features and benefits, visit www.adic.com. True Hot Swap Drives -- The Scalar i2000 is the first tape library to use virtualization technology See VT. See also virtualization. to allow users to change tape drives without having to make any other changes to the backup system. With the new Scalar i2000, a replacement drive can present the same serial number and world-wide name to the host software as the drive it replaces, so it completely eliminates the need to power cycle the library, reboot To reload the operating system, which restarts the computer. See boot. (operating system) reboot - (From boot) A boot with the implication that the computer has not been down for long, or that the boot is a bounce intended to clear some state of wedgitude. See warm boot. the backup application server, or rebuild software library profiles during drive changes. Drive Firmware Autoleveling -- Simplifies library management by automating the management of tape drive firmware levels. When a drive is added to the Scalar i2000, the system checks its firmware level and automatically matches that drive's firmware to the other drives in the library or partition A reserved part of disk or memory that is set aside for some purpose. On a PC, new hard disks must be partitioned before they can be formatted for the operating system, and the Fdisk utility is used for this task. based on user-defined policies. SMI-S Enabled -- SMI-S (Storage Management Initiative Specification) is a storage management standard developed by the Storage Networking Industry Association An association of producers and consumers of storage networking products, whose goal is to further storage networking technology and applications. The Storage Networking Industry Association, or SNIA (SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association, San Francisco, CA, www.snia.org) An organization devoted to the advancement of mission critical storage systems. Founded in 1997, its goal is to determine the standards that must be developed to allow hosts and storage systems to interact via ). SMI-S provides a common language for monitoring, reporting, and implementing multi-vendor device functionality and features with system-level software management tools. Native support for SMI-S will allow the Scalar i2000 to be managed more easily as part of the storage system using a single set of software tools. Drive Utilization Reporting -- An integrated feature that provides details on how library resources are being used. By allowing users to look at overall trends and individual drive usage rates directly from the library, this powerful tool lets users balance loading to get better performance, reduced costs, and increased system reliability. The ADIC Scalar i2000 upgrade will be available in April 2005. About the Scalar i2000 IT managers in mid-sized to Fortune 500 companies rely on ADIC's Scalar i2000 enterprise tape library as the intelligent system for backup consolidation. Unlike conventional tape libraries, which are difficult to manage and service, the Scalar i2000 combines advanced architecture, management and service inside the library, so that users spend less time and money managing backup and get improved data protection. The Scalar i2000 offers faster, more reliable operation in SAN environments, and is designed to provide easily-managed integration with ILM environments and ADIC's own disk-backup solutions. About ADIC Advanced Digital Information Corporation (Nasdaq:ADIC) is a leading provider of Intelligent Storage(TM) solutions to the open systems marketplace. ADIC is the world's largest supplier of automated au·to·mate v. au·to·mat·ed, au·to·mat·ing, au·to·mates v.tr. 1. To convert to automatic operation: automate a factory. 2. tape systems using the drive technologies most often employed for backing up open system, client-server networks.(a) The Company's data management software, storage networking appliances, and disk-based backup and restore solutions provide IT managers innovative tools for storing, managing and protecting their most valuable digital assets in a variety of disk and tape environments. ADIC storage products are available through a worldwide sales force and a global network of resellers and OEMs, including Cray (Cray, Inc., Seattle, WA, www.cray.com) A supercomputer manufacturer founded in 1972 as Cray Research, Inc., by Seymour Cray, a leading designer of large-scale computers at Control Data. In 1976, it shipped its first computer to Los Alamos National Laboratory. , Dell, EMC (1) (EMC Corporation, Hopkinton, MA, www.emc.com) The leading supplier of storage products for midrange computers and mainframes. Founded in 1979 by Richard J. Egan and Roger Marino, EMC has developed advanced storage and retrieval technologies for the world's largest companies. , Fujitsu-Siemens, HP, IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) and Sun. Further information about ADIC is available at www.adic.com. (a) Market Share: Gartner Dataquest, Tape Automation Systems Market Shares, 2003, F. Yale, April 2004. ADIC, Pathlight, StorNext, and Scalar are registered trademarks, and Intelligent Storage is a trademark of Advanced Digital Information Corporation. All other trade or service marks mentioned in this document should be considered the property of their respective owners. |
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