Learn How Alliance Can Help With Your Data Archiving Requirements
Alliance’s Data Archive Solutions makes regulatory compliance, data security, infrastructure optimization, and cost reductions Simple.
Data Archiving
Data archiving has risen to the top of priority lists from the datacenter to the boardroom due to its undeniable IT and business benefits, as well as the critical role it plays in protecting critical information assets long-term to meet stringent regulatory compliance and legal mandates. Built on Alliance Storage Technology’s Archive Management Software (AMS) Platform, NETArchive delivers elastic scalability with simplified, cross-platform management and unrivaled control. It provides a flexible, robust and secure solution that can be tailored to meet the data management, business continuity and retention requirements in today’s complex business and IT environments. Alliance Storage Technologies data archiving solution delivers high-performance storage, answers the demand for an enterprise-class, unalterable and regulatory compliant long-term data archive, at a price point comparable to tape and disk.
Do you have a strategy for preserving data critical to your business or organization?
The need for archiving is not dependent upon the size of the business or organization but rather the importance of data to continued operations of the business. Whether small or large, organizations today face many unique challenges when it comes to storage of data.
Whether your objective is to preserve data or images unaltered, comply with industry regulations, wrap control around big data, or secure data from unauthorized access, you need an archiving strategy that solves your business problems... all of them. A well-thought-out strategy provides the insurance and confidence you need to be certain that your data will still be protected in its unaltered state when needed.
What data archiving strategy meets your business needs?
Alliance Storage Technologies Cloud-Integrated Storage (CiS) delivers the next generation of cloud archive storage solutions – blending compliant archive storage technologies with the reliability, availability and utility of cloud archiving. With Alliance you can access, manage and view all data anywhere within your archiving ecosystem through Alliance’s Archive Management Software (AMS) single pane of glass management, seamlessly integrated with your standard IT operations. The multi-faceted architecture which can encompass on-premises (local and/or remote datacenter) disk and optical, together with public cloud, addresses all of today’s data storage infrastructure requirements. Providing centralized control, monitoring and automated management of all data stored within the archiving ecosystem.
Enhancing your archiving strategy with a cloud-based archive offers the opportunity to maintain a seamless user experience while benefitting from virtually unlimited storage capacity. The cost benefits are oftentimes immediate and substantial, benefitting from the public cloud vendor’s economies of scale – especially when comparing it to storing and managing large amounts of non-essential data on expensive in-house primary storage assets. Additional cost benefits include the ability to reduce your datacenter footprint, and consume less power and cooling resources. Enterprise-class public cloud vendors – such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) with whom Alliance Storage Technologies aligns – also offer comprehensive data security and access controls, protection and compliance coverage.
Solution Overview
Alliance’s CiS provides users with affordable choices for archiving data locally or in Cloud based archives. Authenticated users have seamless access to data stored anywhere within the archiving ecosystem (locally and/or the Cloud).
Archive Management Software (AMS) w/ Cloud Feature As an integral part of the solution, the flexible software provides all the capabilities necessary for proficiently and effectively archiving, managing, and randomly accessing data. Establish policies that determine when, and to what source, the data files are to be archived, after which the files are migrated automatically to their directed source. For additional data security, implement the Encryption feature as well. The Replication option is available for high-availability requirements. Providing centralized control, monitoring and automated management of all data stored within the archiving ecosystem.
Storage Management System (SMS) - Add the Elite SMS, the high-performance up-front server system with RAID and interface to optical media and Cloud. Elite offers the power, performance, and high-availability of hardware components necessary for expedient migrations and recalls.
Optical Media Libraries - Select from a variety of field-proven and reliable scalable optical libraries suitable for any sized business, organization, or archive size from small-medium or Enterprise.
Amazon Web Services S3 - Clients will work directly with AWS to obtain Cloud services under the Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) service level agreement. Alliance CiS solutions integrate seamlessly with Amazon S3 services that can be used to store and retrieve any amount of data. Amazon S3 features highly scalable, inexpensive pay-as-you-go pricing to handle growing storage needs. S3 provides a secure infrastructure with up to 99.99% durability, with 99.99% availability.
Contact Alliance Sales: 719-593-7900 or submit a Request for Quote.
Features & Benefits
Alliance's cloud archiving storage solutions combine the strengths of multiple technologies to create a versatile, innovative data archiving ecosystem adaptable to any business, industry, or organization.
Confidently secures data both locally and in the Cloud Archive
Low-cost Disaster Recovery solution
Reduced Operating Costs - offers affordable alternative to traditional storage systems by combining the low operating costs of optical media with the convenience and economy of the Cloud
Provides multiple avenues for preserving data unaltered over the long-term
Minimizes data archiving overhead by distributing costs over multiple IT assets and resources
Configurable systems conform to existing internal storage policies and infrastructures
Adds extensibility to existing archive appliance libraries (where applicable) enabling more thorough utilization of investment
Conforms to 3-2-1 Data Archiving Best Practices: 3 copies of data, 2 on different types of media, with 1 copy stored off site
Solutions are supported by the knowledge and expertise of data archiving innovators
Protects against loss of control over data - provides centralized control, monitoring and tracking of all data stored within the archiving ecosystem
When the Data Encryption option is incorporated, keys are stored remotely away from the data while simultaneously keeping control of encryption keys in your hands, rather than the cloud provider's.
Provides fast recovery from local optical archive copy or air gapped cloud archive copy
Contact Alliance Sales: 719-593-7900 or submit a Request for Quote.
Archive Management Software Platform (AMS)
Alliance Storage Technologies designed its Archive Management Software Platform (AMS) from the ground-up to address the need to intelligently archive, manage, optimize and secure critical information assets for 100+ years. The AMS platform enhances data retention with game-changing archiving flexibility, performance, scalability and cost efficiency, so that business critical environments and highly regulated industries, including financial services, healthcare, security and surveillance, multi-media and the public sector, can archive and retain data without compromise.
From creation to long-term preservation, the AMS platform manages the entire data archive lifecycle through a single pane of glass with the flexibility and elastic scalability that dynamic organizations require to support rapidly growing data volumes on-premises, in the cloud and across hybrid storage environments.
Powerful Help Tools and Archive Management Policies – eliminate the need for specialized training and resources, enables fast and easy set-up, configuration and flexible modification of archiving and management parameters.
Built in Diagnostics and Notifications – allows you to “set it and forget it.”
Highly Configurable and Versatile Platform – provides powerful policy-based control for data migration and management.
Continuous Monitoring and Customizable Notifications – streamline management efficiency.
Designed Expressly for Usability and Efficiency – enables users to manage virtualized archive storage volumes, file folders, file releases and migrations, online and offline media, and data stored on-premises and in public clouds (e.g., Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure).
Built-In Disaster Recovery (DR) Utilities – enables users to choose the appropriate policies to support their business continuity requirements.
Encryption - added security, especially important to the legal, government, financial, healthcare insurance and security and surveillance, sectors.
Replication – allows replication of data to one or more additional libraries in separate geographical locations to ensure high availability (HA) and business continuity – critical business operations are maintained even in the event of a major catastrophic event.
WORM Storage – data stored in immutable state to ensure authenticity.
Failover/Failback Capabilities – further ensures Recovery Time Objectives (RTO).
Support for Cloud-Based Archives – complete control and management efficiency for data stored in active cloud tier.
Backup and/or Offsite Physical Storage – flexibly meet business, regulatory and budgetary data retention objectives.
The AMS Pro advanced feature set can be enhanced by enabling options such as Encryption, Replication, and Cloud.
Replication
Replication Feature for Business Continuity
Businesses and organizations have become reliant upon data in order to maintain operations. Continual availability of that data is crucial to ensuring uninterrupted business operations through the worst of disasters. The Archive Management Software’s Replication option is the key to maintaining high availability of data and business continuity.
The Replication option provides a solid disaster recovery strategy allowing replication of data to one or more additional libraries in separate geographical locations. Replication provides organizations with excellent RTO (Recovery Time Objective) and RPO (Recovery Point Objective) to support high-availability business continuity requirements. Libraries will be identical providing immediate disaster recovery fail-over to the backup site should the need arise.
Through Replication, critical business operations are maintained even in the event of a major catastrophic event.
Replication is an optional add-on to the Archive Management Software (AWS)
Features include:
Remote Data Replication – Replicated libraries may reside anywhere geographically with appropriate network connectivity
Total Redundancy Between Libraries – complete access to data is ensured with the replication of ownerships, permissions, and Access Control Lists (ACLs). Extended attributes are replicated along with data.
Automated Replication of Data – Set the schedule to the desired time of day in order to minimize network impact and the data will be automatically replicated to an Archive Appliance at another location.
Failover - Failback Switching – Easily switch Active-Passive replication between libraries as events dictate
Event Notification – Proactively manage system status and changes via email or centralized monitoring
Intelligent Change Tracking – Active tracking of updates in real time improves replication speed and availability
Centralized Data Management – Data from Archive Appliances located in regional and branch offices can be accumulated to a centralized Archive Appliance via the replication feature
Available for all Archive Appliance models running the latest AMS software. Field installed models may be retrofitted and upgraded with some exceptions.
For additional information contact an Alliance Data Archive Expert at 719-593-7900 or submit a Request for Quote
Encryption
Encryption Feature
Secure valuable data from unauthorized access with the ASTI’s Encryption feature.
The news is filled with stories about security breaches, corporate espionage, hackers, and information leaks. Many industries face mandates that require encryption while others consider it a business necessity. Nevertheless, protecting valuable corporate assets has never been more important, especially with the increasing number of industry regulations and the fines imposed for each breach.
Any enterprise that has a requirement for protecting data can benefit from the added security that encryption provides, however, it is especially important to the security and surveillance, legal, government, financial, healthcare and insurance sectors. The Healthcare Information Technology Act (HITECH) requires patient records to be encrypted and levies steep fines for breaches. These far-reaching mandates apply to healthcare institutions, physician’s offices, and their business associates, which can include insurance companies, financial institutions, or any company dealing with patient records.
Encryption Features and Benefits:
Assures compliance with stringent industry regulations, HIPAA/HITECH, PCI requirements, and more
Secures data silently in the background automatically protecting sensitive data.
Prevents against accidental or intentional alteration of data
Protects data from unauthorized access due to theft or loss of physical media while in transit
Safeguards business reputation - the cost of a breach may include loss of customers, class action lawsuits, and damage to brands
Eliminates the need for third party software (ASTI developer-integrated solution)
Defends against corporate espionage or malicious attacks
Reduces the risk of regulatory penalties that could result from a potential breach
Increases confidence in the security of data stored off-site or in the Cloud
How does it work?
The ASTI data encryption option is enabled through the Archive Management Software (AMS)
Meets U.S. and Canadian guidelines with FIPS 140-2 compliant, AES 256-bit encryption algorithms
Encryption applies to all data stored on optical media and Cloud-Integrated Storage
Fileshare partitions are specified for encryption through AMS policies prior to being migrated to optical media or the Cloud
Symmetric encryption keys for each file are generated and protected by symmetric encryption wrapping keys which are generated via FIPS 140-2 compliant random number generator
License key management is implemented in accordance with NIST Special Publication 800-57 Recommendations for Key Management such that all keys are stored remotely away from the data
Symmetric Encryption Keys for each data file are protected and stored in an encrypted format utilizing Symmetric Encryption Wrapping Keys for each Archive Volume
NAS Configuration Recommendations:
• Elite Storage Management System (SMS) recommended • NAS library – select from Entry-Midrange to Enterprise • Archive Management Software (AMS) with the Encryption option enabled, and/or Cloud and Replication.
For additional information contact an Alliance Data Archive Expert at 719-593-7900 or submit a Request for Quote
Cloud
Cloud Feature
The Cloud feature is an optional add-on to the Archive Management Software (AMS). This feature enables the Storage Management System (SMS) to act as an interface with the Cloud. Designed specifically for data archiving, the Cloud feature incorporates features that can substantially reduce business risks and costs.
Tightly integrated with the standard AMS interface and policy engine, cloud storage may be utilized with any data archive. Data can be seamlessly written to cloud and/or optical archives, depending on archive data requirements. All data stored anywhere within the data archiving ecosystem, whether online, in the cloud, or on optical storage can be viewed and accessed seamlessly.
All of the AMS features, functions, and monitoring capabilities applicable to optical media are applied to the Cloud as well, providing a simple cloud on-boarding approach. Special menu functions are enabled for entering Cloud provider details and account keys.
Add Security to your Cloud Data
The Encryption option is highly recommended for data stored in the Cloud, as this ensures protection of data from unauthorized access and compliance with such mandates as the HIPAA HITECH act. With the Encryption option, data is encrypted prior to being migrated to the Cloud or optical media. All encryption keys are stored and protected for disaster recovery purposes and prevention of unauthorized access by cloud service providers or others attempting to gain access to data stored in the cloud.
For additional information contact an Alliance Data Archive Expert at 719-593-7900 or submit a Request for Quote
“We had to determine what information was retrievable among the absolute chaos of the first week after Katrina…We were able to recover all of the patient images off the Plasmon libraries…We are now primarily using the Plasmon’s UDO Archive Appliance for its long-term recoverability.” --Kenneth Allen, Health Systems Specialist, Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care
HIPAA Compliance at a Reasonable Cost
“Ensuring that we could provide a PACS archive solution that helps customers meet HIPAA compliance at a reasonable cost was a critical requirement. This was guaranteed with the performance, longevity, and authenticity of the UDO Archive Appliance.” – Lenny Reznik, Director Enterprise Imaging and Information, Agfa Healthcare
Retrieval Time Went from Days to Seconds
“Our major issue was time lost chasing documents. With the implementation of the archive solution, retrieval times went from DAYS to SECONDS.”
--Tony Libri, Sangamon County Circuit Clerk, Sangamon County Ciruit Clerk's Office
the solution, the flexible software provides all the capabilities necessary for proficiently and effectively archiving, managing, and randomly accessing data. Establish policies that determine when, and to what source, the data files are to be archived, after which the files are migrated automatically to their directed source. For additional data security, implement the Encryption feature as well. The Replication option is available for high-availability requirements. Providing centralized control, monitoring and automated management of all data stored within the archiving ecosystem.
