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Spectra Logic Announces Updates and Enhancements to BlackPearlTM Deep Storage Gateway
April 2015 by Marc Jacob
Spectra Logic announced updates and enhancements to its BlackPearl™ Deep Storage Gateway that allow data to move seamlessly into deep tape storage in a new and more efficient way. To meet the demands of exponential data growth and long-term retention, the Spectra BlackPearl™ Deep Storage Gateway enables users to easily store massive amounts of data forever, at virtually no cost.
The newly enhanced Spectra Logic BlackPearl™ Deep Storage Gateway sits in front of deep storage tape libraries and allows users to move data anywhere within their network using simple HTTP commands. Spectra Logic’s command set, DS3, is an extension of the S3 cloud storage interface popularised by Amazon®. DS3 provides additional features for bulk data movement, increasing workflow efficiency. Spectra Logic’s Developer Program provides the Application Program Interface (API) and Software Development Kits (SDKs) in several programming languages.
Performance Enhancements of latest code updates to BlackPearl™ Deep Storage Gateway:
• S3 Partial Object Restore allows user to request a piece of an object rather than the whole object increasing efficiency of network traffic
• Tape Eject – Eject support for a bucket or individual tapes, with tracking of external media at no extra charge
• Backups of the object database, which keeps track of the objects/files in BlackPearl, are now automatically copied to tape
• TS1150 tape drive technology support
• Tape Cache capacity increased from 28TB to 56TB standard with larger capacities available; now supporting 8TB HDDs along with the current 4TB
HDDs
• Throughput performance increased to 800 MBps using 6 to 8 LTO-6 tape drives attached to one BlackPearl Gateway
• Increased cache performance of 1GBps
Additionally, Spectra Logic has decided to make BlackPearl’s RESTful DS3 interface and Software Development Kits (SDKs) available to everyone in an open source community - the Spectra Logic Developer Program. Developers can now build their own applications to move data to Spectra Logic’s deep storage libraries. This will allow developers to modify the software for their specific needs, and to contribute those modifications back to the developer community.
Spectra Logic has also released its own DS3 client, the DS3 Browser, which is free and available in the open source community. The simple interface is intuitive, similar to an FTP client, and allows file drag and drop between BlackPearl and a local computer. With the DS3 Browser, customers can have a complete deep storage solution from one vendor, which eliminates complexity. Additionally, the DS3 Browser source code is available for customers to modify for their specific workflow needs, or developers can use the source code as an example while building their own client.
