Assureon is a combined hardware/software platform that provides fixed-content archive storage capabilities for the enterprise. The platform is disk-based, and offers both WORM storage capabilities as well as automated retention periods in which files cannot be changed or erased until their designated retention period has elapsed (individual files can be retained and automatically purged after an administrator defined period of time based on an included "File Watcher" program or the creating application).

The platform stores its data via Content Addressed Storage (CAS), which means that the data is stored and accessed via a cryptographic key (MD5 and SHA1) that is generated from the actual byte-level content of the data itself. In this manner, duplicate files are always stored as a single entity, and the system prevents the files from being tampered with (since a changed file would result in differing key and therefore a different address).

In addition to CAS storage, the content of the data itself is protected from unauthorized access via 256-bit AES encryption, which is applied at the object level (a separate encryption key is created for each object). The encryption keys themselves are stored redundantly and the platform leverages offsite key servers (which are themselves encrypted) hosted by the vendor. When a file's retention period expires, the content of the file is removed and the keys required to access the files are also destroyed, thereby preventing access to the data even if a copy resides on remote tape.

Data is stored to the Assureon primarily via FSW agents, which themselves run on Windows 2000/XP Server/2003 machines and monitor selected directories, automatically copying or moving (per defined policy) new or changed files in the directory to the Assureon for archived management. Synchronization between the Assureon and the FSW directory is also possible. Separate versions of Assureon (specifically, the SA and NX configurations) support "NAS-like" access to Assureon via CIFS or NFS; but the vendor notes that these systems are simplified platforms with the encryption function disabled (among other differences).

Additional features of Assureon include:

- Support for offline media including tape or optical storage

- Support for remote site file duplication

- RAID hardware

- Independent scaling of server nodes and storage

- Files are regularly validated by scanning and regenerating their UFID keys and comparing them to the original. A discrepancy triggers an error message and log entry, and the file is automatically replaced with a mirrored copy.

New features in the latest release of Assureon include:

- Support for the vendor's AutoMAID technology, which seeks to reduce overall energy usage by placing disk drives in an idle state based on policy definitions (with support for multiple energy-saving levels). Policy-settings can be applied to individual drives or RAID sets.

- Support for virtualized storage in which a single Assureon can be split into an unlimited number of separate archives; the data in each virtual archive is itself physically separated from all other virtual arhives, enabling multi-tenant environments without co-mingling of data. This support for virtual file systems additionally, according to the vendor, effectively removes any number of objects limits in the system.

Assureon is available now; with a "typical" 14TB configuration priced at $50,000.

Visit the Nexsan Technologies Web site for further information.

product submission by EITPlanet Staff

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