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XenData's Video Edition manages a tape library and RAID on a Windows Server 2003 platform to create a high performance data storage solution designed for digital video archives.

The XenData Software presents the managed tapes and RAID cache as a logical drive letter which may be shared over a network. Video files are written to and retrieved from the digital archive as though from a standard Windows logical hard drive.

The Video Edition is optimized for high performance with very large files using either CIFS or FTP network protocols. The system will transfer video files at many times real-time. Furthermore, it supports partial file restore for all file types.

The physical location of files is driven by policies set by the Administrator. A typical file management policy is illustrated in the diagram below.

When files are transferred to the archive, they are immediately written to RAID. With a typical policy, the file is then put into a queue for archive to tape which usually starts within a minute. This iprovides two copies of the data for high data integrity.

The system administrator will have predefined a replication schedule and the number of tape copies for replication. After all copies of the file have been produced, the file may be deleted from RAID according to the administrator-defined policy.

On reading the file, it is always retrieved from the fastest physical storage device. If it is stored on magnetic disk and tape, the file will be read from disk. If the file is available only on tape, it will be retrieved from tape.

A single server may have many different policies, tailored to the needs of the different file types that are being archived. For example, low resolution files may be permanently retained on RAID, but high resolution video files will be archived on tape alone, which is achieved by de-migrating from RAID as soon as the last replica is written, freeing up space on magnetic disk.

This approach to video file management delivers both high data integrity and high performance, taking full advantage of the attributes of both magnetic disks and tape.

XenData Software is tightly integrated into the Windows operating system kernel and is designed to deliver high data transfer rates. With large files such as found in digital video applications, many archiving solutions offer only poor performance. XenData software offers exceptionally high performance with file sizes from small to large.

With large files written to a server running XenData software, the data transfer rates for both writing and reading are typically limited only by network speed or by the tape drives. For example, with SAIT or LTO-3 drives, I GB Ethernet and a 2.4 GHz dual processor, sustainable transfer rates of 200 to 300 Mbits/s are easily achievable.

Additional features of a digital video archive server based on XenData software include:

• Multiple Tape Sets - the Administrator can group related files together on the same set of tapes.

• Dynamic Expansion of Tape Sets - the system will dynamically expand tape sets to meet capacity demands.

• Cartridge Spanning - the system supports storage of large files across multiple tape cartridges.

• Off-Line Tape Cartridge Management - the system retains meta-data for off-line cartridges.

• Security - XenData software is fully integrated with the Microsoft Windows security model, based on Active Directory.

• Standard Tape Format - open standard TAR file format is used on the tape, allowing the tape cartridges to be read using standard third party utilities.

• Rapid file system recovery, in case of disaster

Breece Hill Product List:

8 PAK | 10 PAK | 10 PAK SAIT | 16 PAK | iStoRA Archive | iStoRA B/R | Maxoptix T8
XenData Advanced | XenData Video