Archive vendor Tarmin has added the Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network to its list of supported cloud storage providers in Gridbank 1.5, a software-based archiving solution that, based on business rules, pulls older files from primary storage and moves them to secondary storage, leveraging encryption, compression and single image techniques. By moving data into its archive, Gridbank lowers the capacity requirements on more costly, higher-performing primary storage networks and on the backup windows of those networks. Once in the archive, data is indexed within Gridbank for data retention as well as e-discovery processes. Nirvanix offers a fully managed cloud storage service for the enterprise.
With the upcoming 1.5 software release, Gridbank will enable customers to push archive data out into the cloud. Gridbank 1.5 will also offer simplified access to these services with the option of off-site archive storage. George Crump, founder of Storage Switzerland and a Byte and Switch blogger, notes that "Where most hardware guys are trying to position themselves as suppliers to cloud storage companies and then continue to try to sell their wares to normal end-users for standard use, Tarmin is taking a unique approach of leveraging the cloud as a back end to solve the 'why do I have to buy two?' question that comes up in disk archiving."
Furthermore, to alleviate concerns about private corporate data leaving the physical walls of the enterprise, Tarmin offers a strict policy-based archival process within Gridbank. All data sent to the cloud can be encrypted, and certain data, such as financial records, can be restricted to local archives.
While Gridbank's push to the cloud may be a boon to an enterprise's business continuity plans, administrators looking to leverage a cloud-based storage solution should go in with their eyes wide open. Most of the cloud storage solutions are tiered on the storage capacity used, so as an archive grows, the cost of an expanding storage service will grow with it. Without careful design and planning, these costs could overshadow the savings they were meant to provide.
