A new series of data-backup and disaster-recovery appliances has been unveiled by a company this week. These appliances offer a turnkey solution by combining a server, hard-drive cache, tape library, and the Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) software application.
According to Kevin Hoffman, the vice president of sales at Hoffman Technologies, a storage solution provider based in Sacramento, California, this product brings an enterprise-level storage solution with full TSM support to smaller businesses. He believes that smaller customers have not been interested in TSM in the past due to the high cost of integrating the necessary server, tape, and software, which typically amounts to about $50,000. However, he expects their perceptions to change with this fully integrated solution.
While the company has previously offered similar appliances based on tape libraries from vendors like Overland Storage, Qualstar, and Spectra Logic, this latest family incorporates a Sony tape library using AIT drive technology and is specifically aimed at small businesses. Ellen Rome, the vice president of channel sales and marketing at StorServer in Colorado Springs, confirmed this.
The Y-series solution consists of a 4U rack-mount server with hard-disk-based storage and a 2U Sony AIT tape library, as explained by John Sorensen, the vice president of manufacturing at StorServer. Customers initially need to perform a full backup to the appliance, after which TSM allows for incremental changes to be backed up to disk first and then to tape.
Sorensen further explained that this approach ensures a full backup is available for as long as needed, while customers can recover files or systems at any specific point in time within a 20-day period. He emphasized that TSM is the best technology for this capability.
For small business clients interested in implementing a disaster recovery program, the Y-series is worth considering, according to Hoffman. He highlighted that TSM includes Disaster Recovery Manager, which is the only product he knows of that writes a disaster-recovery plan for customers, including instructions on where to store tapes. Customers simply answer a series of questions, and the plan is generated.
Hoffman also mentioned that the Y-series is suitable for the government space. Typically, the government would require a server, a tape library, and software, which would involve three separate bids going to different companies. However, this turnkey solution consolidates all the products into a single bid.
The Y-series appliances are available in different configurations and price points. The Y1 starts at $12,900 and offers 100 Gbytes to 300 Gbytes of non-RAID ATA hard-disk capacity with one AIT drive. The Y500 starts at $13,900 and provides 20 Gbytes to 160 Gbytes of non-RAID SCSI disk with one tape drive. The Y1000 starts at $20,900 and offers 50 Gbytes to 190 Gbytes of RAID SCSI disk with two AIT drives. These appliances are available to both StorServer and Sony solution providers.
StorServer currently sells its products exclusively through solution providers, according to Rome. The company has around 65 partners in North America but is actively seeking more partners who can sell this turnkey solution. Partners have access to online quoting tools from StorServer and can receive margins of up to 35 percent on the integrated solution.
Currently, implementation is handled by StorServer. However, Sorensen mentioned that the company will certify partners who undergo two weeks of training, participate in three installations with StorServer personnel, and have previous TSM certification.