DDN HPC storage calculates risk

IBM clustered NAS calculates risk

London-based Risk Management Solutions (RMS), which provides natural-catastrophe risk management services for insurers, has deployed 300 TB of capacity in a DataDirect Networks (DDN) S2A9900 HPC storage subsystem to support a server upgrade.

RMS has witnessed a 10-times increase in storage capacity demands over the past two years from its Global Catastrophe models, which help insurers calculate risk on insured assets from the effects of extreme weather events.

In the project, Sheffield-based high-performance computing specialist OCF replaced an open source system, implemented pooled storage and reduced data backup time by 50 percent.

Processing is via a combination of IBM X3950 servers and Sun X6250 with more than 800 cores, while IBM’s General Parallel File System sits across all servers, each of which has direct access to the new DDN central storage pool across InfiniBand and an aggregate peak performance of 2.76 Gbps. IBM Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) backs up data to a 900-slot Spectra Logic T950 tape library with a total storage capacity of 2 PB. 

Ben Morfett, IT manager with RMS, said, “We have seen growth in raw storage increase 10-fold in just two years, and this required a step change in how we address our data management needs. With TSM’s ‘incremental forever,’ our nightly backup has reduced from 15 hours to 3.5 hours.” 

BBC Wales gets Object Matrix NAS

BBC Wales has implemented an Object Matrix MatrixStore file-based nearline storage platform for its Avid media production workflows. BBC Wales is the largest BBC production centre outside London, and its workloads are growing. Its production infrastructure comprises Avid ISIS and Unity systems with more than 50 editing clients.

Arkivum to use IBM tape drives

Achiving services provider Arkivum has selected IBM LTO 5 and TS1140 tape drives to support expanding business needs. The firm will use IBM’s enterprise tape library and drive technology as part of its A-Stor product.

CommVault expands global support from Reading

Backup software vendor CommVault has expanded its global customer service operations with the opening of a new customer support centre in Reading and the addition of about 30 staff members. The expansion aims to provide additional geographic coverage and to respond to calls around the clock from all parts of world in several languages.

Coraid signs partnerhip and gets $50m in funding

ATA over Ethernet (AoE) vendor Coraid announced it has signed Luton-based Admiral IT as a gold partner as part of its continued expansion in Europe. Admiral will offer Coraid’s entire range of Ethernet SAN solutions to its customer base, focusing on the financial, education and media sectors.

Coraid also announced it has closed a $50 million investment round led by Crosslink Capital, with participation from existing investors Menlo Ventures, Allegis Capital, Azure Capital Partners and affiliates of Silver Lake, as well as new investors such as Seagate Technology and Kinetic Ventures. The company also announced that it now has more than 1,500 customers in 45 countries.

Mezeo and Scality partner

Mezeo Software, a provider of cloud storage management products, has announced an agreement with object-based storage provider Scality that will see Mezeo’s software made compatible and available for use with Scality's Ring Organic Storage product and vice versa. With the announcement, Scality becomes the latest Mezeo Ready technology partner, and Mezeo becomes a new member of Scality's global partner network.

Druva offers laptop visibility

Laptop backup software specialist Druva has unveiled inSync Advanced Data Insights, which allows enterprise IT customers to gain increased visibility into data stored and shared across all enterprise endpoints. Druva’s latest product enables insights into enterprise data through aggregate and per-user summary information, advanced search capability to locate any file on any laptop, reporting, and alert notifications. It allows administrators to locate files or folders in any device by common file attribute criteria, and it provides a summary of file composition across endpoints, by file type and size, as well as aggregate and per-user storage consumption.