Fujifilm has launched a new product designed to integrate object storage into modern tape archiving software.
Fujifilm Recording Media USA has partnered with IRODS consortium, an open source data management software provider, on the new tool, called Fujifilm Object Archive.
While tape storage is an old form of data management, Fujifilm touts how Object Archive can bring new efficiency to storing and accessing the mountains of information collected by public agencies, public universities and others. organizations.
As Fujifilm put it in a declaration, “The Object Archive software supports new higher capacity LTO-9 tape technology, making the solution potentially even more efficient, economical and scalable. “
Aimed at customers who “produce massive amounts of research and analysis data”, the new software tool is designed so that users can better store and access through automated workflows much of the accumulated information.
More precisely, the tool targets so-called “cold” data, that is to say data rarely consulted, which is stored on tape. Higher education institutions, governments and other businesses typically need to store large amounts of data, although it can sometimes be difficult to access and secure it effectively.
Object Archive could be particularly attractive for higher education, said Chris Kehoe, the project engineer for iRODS integration. Government technology. Partly, that’s because they face strict rules when it comes to preserving data, especially when it’s obtained through publicly funded research.
“It is extremely important to have a data preservation plan within the institution,” he said.
Moreover, he said, universities also share and store their data, and this new tool could help with those arrangements.
“Probably every state doing any kind of research has this kind of collaborative requirement,” he said, of these publicly funded schools.
According to Fujifilm, Object Archive optimizes object storage with tape archive software. Storage of objects refers to the computer management of data as objects or units, which is in contrast to, for example, file systems.
This, at least as Fujifilm says, offers security and cost advantages and allows for relatively easy scaling. Users can keep a copy of their data, which could reduce the risk of paying exit fees to cloud storage providers if those users change providers. This tool can also help organizations comply with data compliance rules.
Data storage, access and security are among the hottest topics in higher education and among state and local governments. Perhaps the main reason is simply the amount of data that agencies collect. Corona, California, for example, recently saw a 20% increase in data volume, according to a city official.
Such trends are sure to increase, according to Dave Fellinger, data management technologist for the iRODS consortium, whose data management platform is part of the Fujifilm initiative.
“We see state and local governments taking responsibility for earth science and tracking carbon footprints,” he said. Government technology for exemple.
But efforts to capture the impacts of climate change are hardly the only ongoing data challenge for governments, said Terrell Russell, interim executive director of the iRODS Consortium, who he said has experience working with libraries. and archives – organizations focused on the proposition of long-term information storage.
“Data stays on a shelf until you need it,” he said. “Governments have an obligation to keep things close at hand.”