ADIC Takes A Shine To Unified Disk, Tape Backups With Pathlight VX 2.0

Redmond, Wash.-based ADIC, a major supplier of automated tape solutions, late last month unveiled Pathlight VX 2.0, an application that can handle backups of up to 3,000 Tbytes.

The application helps overcome many of the limitations of disk-based backup solutions, said a spokesperson for ADIC.

The new version of Pathlight VX combined with an EMC Clariion ATA RAID array offers LTO tape-compatible backups at up to 2 Tbytes per hour with a maximum native capacity of 2,824 Tbytes, the spokesperson said. The Clariion is connected to a tape library to allow files to be automatically moved to tape for archiving and disaster-recovery purposes. The software sees the data as a virtual library, the spokesperson said.

Don McNaughton, sales manager at HorizonTek, a Huntington, N.Y.-based solution provider, said the solution sounds like a good fit for customers that don't currently have a tape library and are looking for virtual tape solutions. "Most customers have a tape library," McNaughton said. "But their needs change. If a library is three to five years old, it's time to move on to a new technology."

Because Pathlight VX adds disk storage to the backup solution, some of the obsolescence issues related to tape backup are removed. "Even after a couple of years, the disk is still fast," he said. "If the capacity fills up, throw more disks into the Clariion."

The disk-based storage currently appears to back up software only as an LTO library, but other virtual tape technologies will be compatible with the technology in the next six months, the ADIC spokesperson said. Because the disk and tape capacities are seen by Pathlight VX as a single library, data can be moved between disk and tape without customers realizing it. The data can also be exported to tapes, which can be read by other libraries.

Solution providers can allocate tape and disk-storage capacity based on whether customers need to focus on speed or cost. Adding disk capacity means quicker data-recovery times, as data is kept online for a longer time. More tape capacity means a lower acquisition cost. Customers now have the chance to strike a balance between recovery time and the cost of storage, the spokesperson said.

Pathlight VX 2.0 is slated to ship in January. Pricing varies depending on configuration, but a typical solution with 32.2 Tbytes of capacity, including 3.8 Tbytes of Clariion disk storage and a Scalar 100 tape library with LTO-2 drives, has a list price of $200,361, including media and a two-year on-site warranty.