ProStor Systems Announces the Sale of its RDX® Removable Disk Technology Business

ProStor Systems, the leader in multi-tiered storage systems for long-term data retention, today announced the sale of its RDX removable disk business. Tandberg Data will acquire the RDX business, including intellectual property and key members of ProStor’s RDX engineering team. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. ProStor Systems is the inventor and original developer of RDX removable disk technology and the only vendor to offer a multi-tiered storage system based on RDX.

RDX removable disk technology has become the industry leader in enterprise-class removable disk storage for backup, disaster protection and archive. ProStor Systems licensed the RDX technology to Tandberg Data to manufacture, market and sell worldwide. Since then, Tandberg Data has been instrumental in RDX technology achieving widespread acceptance and has established itself as the market leader in the removable disk market.

ProStor is the only vendor to offer a multi-tiered storage system based on RDX technology. “In recent months, we’ve enhanced and expanded the ProStor InfiniVault® product line significantly. The sale of the RDX business will enable us to align our resources and focus our attention solely on scaling the InfiniVault product portfolio,” explains Frank Harbist, ProStor Systems’ CEO.

ProStor InfiniVault, a multi-tiered storage system for fixed digital assets, is uniquely suited to provide a cost-effective solution where data is stored at the most efficient level given business retention and retrieval requirements. The InfiniVault offers backward- and forward- compatibility so that any capacity RDX disk can be intermixed in the system, realizing dramatic cost savings as data grows by eliminating the need to purchase a new system. ProStor will continue to offer its full range of RDX capacity points as part of selling the InfiniVault portfolio. ProStor is still unique in offering system-matching warranties for RDX drives that are bought from ProStor as part of an InfiniVault sale.

The InfiniVault product line has been expanding to include features that enable data virtualization across online, nearline, offline, and offsite tiers based on policies. This transaction enables the continued development of significant long-term data management and retention capabilities to come in the future. ProStor continues to experience solid acceleration in number of customers and sales—serving over 200 customers and realizing over 100% growth in sales year over year.

ProStor Systems provides industry-leading solutions for the cost-effective, long-term storage of digital information. ProStor InfiniVault® integrates information management software, online disk, and RDX removable disk to simplify retention management while automating disaster protection and regulatory compliance. InfiniVault provides fast, reliable retrieval of information from a choice of local online, nearline, offline or offsite locations, all while eliminating archive silos and reducing management overhead. This intelligent storage system is replacing optical, tape, and disk in healthcare, document imaging, financial services, digital video archive, service provider, and government markets

Tandberg RDX - QuickSation 8TB Library

The RDX QuikStation delivers data protection and offsite disaster recovery for SMB and SME environments in a multi-cartridge 2U configuration. It provides users with the benefits of tape storage, including removability and archivability, and the benefits of disk, namely speed, random access, reliability and high capacity.

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Imation RDX, HP RDX, Quantum RDX, Tandberg RDX

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Designed and built by Tandberg Data, the RDX QuikStation consists of eight integrated RDX docks that provide up to 8TB of online capacity when populated with 1TB RDX disk cartridges, as well as unlimited offline capacity. Users can choose to configure the unit as either eight individually-addressable iSCSI disk targets or as an emulated tape autoloader or library. Just as tape libraries revolutionized the utility of tape storage, the RDX QuikStation will increase the ways in which removable disk technology will store, protect, archive, transport and restore data.

"The ability to simultaneously read or write from all eight docks in iSCSI mode means that the RDX QuikStation can achieve very high performance rates for faster backup and restore," said Randy Kerns, analyst with the Evaluator Group. "I would encourage users to look at the opportunities presented with the Tandberg Data RDX library. It also can be deployed for less traditional applications, such as providing system snapshot copies, data interchange between remote offices and life support for systems awaiting data from the cloud."

The RDX QuikStation includes features that streamline system deployment and management. With built-in web-based management, the RDX-based library makes remote system configuration, management, operation, status checks and security easy and convenient. Because the RDX QuikStation is compatible with popular backup applications it is able to integrate into a broad range of environments. The RDX QuikStation is already supported by Computer Associates' ARCserve, Symantec Backup Exec, and Tandberg Data's AccuGuard Server backup and deduplication software. Additional ISV support will be announced in the near future.

"The RDX QuikStation is the Swiss Army knife of data protection," said Marije Gould, vice president of marketing for Tandberg Data. "It is a remarkably flexible platform that facilitates consolidation of RDX data protection while providing multiple paths to adding removable disk to existing storage infrastructures. With its ruggedized and standardized RDX format, it also creates the ideal foundation for cloud seeding, bulk load, and bulk restore."

RDX Technology
RDX technology provides a safe, rugged and portable storage choice for SMBs and SMEs. Designed to backup and archive data from servers and workstations, RDX removable disk technology offers users higher capacity, faster speed and lower cost than low-end tape products. Its transfer rate of up to 45MB/second allows users to backup 100GB of data in less than an hour, streamlining the backup process. RDX media is available in capacities ranging from 160GB to 1TB.

RDX - Removable Disk Technology Advantages and Features

There is little question that responsible IT management begins with the discipline of data protection, retention and restore. In the unexpected event of system or storage equipment failure the ability to restore lost data is invaluable. RDX (Removable Disk Technology), is a disk-based storage technology designed to protect and archive data. RDX technology combines the best characteristics of tape backup with disk storage to bring you removability, portability, low cost, reliability, fast data transfer rates and instant file retrieval.

RDX Advantages

• Superior TCO over the life of the product - RDX removable disk technology requires a one time investment in an RDX dock. Any RDX generation cartridge capacity is compatible. As RDX disk drive capacities increase there is no need to replace the RDX dock as is required with the LTO tape drives. All RDX docks can read any generation cartridge, docks are forward and backward compatible. A dock is typically at a minimum 1/10 the cost of an LTO tape drive for similar performance and capacity – even greater cost differential for newer generation LTO drive.

• The RDX dock is recognized by the computer as simply another system disk drive, both serial and random access (drag and drop) backup are possible. This allows specific select files to be backed-up as needed. Files that need to be backed-up for easy transport or archiving are done easily.

• Multiple copies are easily made directly from the computer hard drive with no special software.

• Adaptable to different size cartridges to fit the need - Since all RDX docks can read any generation cartridge you can right size the cartridge for each back-up requirement, whether exchanging cartridges with a partner or doing daily backups you can choose the cartridge capacity that is right for the job.

• RDX cartridges are easily exchanged among partners inside and outside the organization no matter what the cartridge capacity is. Unlike tape, where each tape generation (capacity) requires the same generation tape drive and there is no flexibility to exchange tapes with partners, inside or outside your organization, that are not on the same generation.Additionally, with the drag and drop capabilities just the files you need to exchange can be easily and securely copied.

• Cartridges are high capacity (1TB today with new capacities coming out multiple times a year)

• RDX Cartridges provide added flexibility in transport choices. They are rugged enough for courier transport or overnight delivery services such as FedEx. Drop in an envelope and ship. A consumer external hard drive or tape cartridges do not have the ruggedness of an RDX cartridge because they have moving parts and risk damage in transit.

• Archival capability – 30+ years

Key Features and Benefits

Removability and Portability Mobile HDD with a ramp load head Random vibration resistant ESD (Static) protection Protected from drops of up to a meter

Archivability and Reliability Up to 30+ years

Simplicity and Security Drag-n-drop file transfers Cartridge write protection WORM capable USB connectivity

Affordability Very low initial cost Very low total cost of ownership

Performance Instant random access to data Backup 80 GB in less than an hour Transfers data up to 45 MB/sec.

Backup Application Compatibility Certified with all major backup applications

Forward and Backward Compatibility Unbeatable investment protection Today's drive/dock is compatible with all current and future cartridges Today's cartridges are compatible with all current and future drives/docks

Scalability Simply add cartridges to increase capacity Customizable for personal and business requirements SATA interface for easy system/server integration