[November 25, 2014]

QStar releases Archive Manager v6.1 and Becomes First ISV to Integrate with HP StoreEver Data Verification

QStar Technologies Inc, a leading global provider of enterprise-class data management and archive software, today announced the release of version 6.1 of Archive Manager NAS gateway software for archive storage technologies, which now includes the option to create a self-managing, self-healing archive with LTO tape, through integration with HP StoreEver Data Verification software. Thanks to this joint solution customers' data now enjoys a new level of protection against loss as the technologies detect media-related issues and take pre-emptive action to copy affected data on new media.

QStar is the first Independent Software Vendor (ISV) to integrate with HP StoreEver Data Verification, a new application that utilises low-level information in the HP LTO tape drive to determine the health of a cartridge. An API interface allows QStar Archive Manager to schedule cartridge verification and automatically take action if it is identified as being suspect. The QStar software then presents cartridge statistics through a new GUI page, and offers the ability to schedule cartridge verification in one of three ways with LTO6; a quick scan taking around five minutes, a moderate scan taking around an hour and a full scan which takes around five hours. Should any cartridge be detected as having a lower than expected level of read back confidence, QStar Archive Maager would copy data from that cartridge to a new cartridge.

QStar Archive Manager provides a NAS interface for users or applications that need a simple way to store data to tape / optical libraries, object storage or cloud. Archive Manager software is installed on a Windows or Linux server and uses an "integral volume" combining disk and archive storage. This approach allows files to be cached to disk for short-term retrieval with file metadata remaining there permanently, while files are moved to archive storage for long-term preservation.

A key requirement for long-term data preservation is to know when data or media is at risk of becoming unreadable. QStar recommends that archived data is protected by creating multiple copies of data, but in this case, unreadable data is only identified when the file is accessed and fails to read correctly; data must then be accessed from another copy, which is not ideal, as this copy could be offsite. Through media verification the retrieval of offline media to replace failed onsite media will never be necessary because of the preventative action. Delays in accessing data are therefore avoided and the number of reliable copies is always maintained.

"Verifying the quality of archived tape data over time has always been a challenge for customers," said Chris Powers, Vice President, Data Centre Development Unit, HP Storage. "Today, customers can now preserve the integrity and access business-critical data stored on tape media using HP StoreEver Data Verification with the added automated capabilities provided by QStar Archive Manager throughout its lifecycle."

Riccardo Finotti, QStar CEO, stated "We are extremely proud to be the first ISV to integrate with HP's StoreEver Data Verification API; together we are helping to preserve our joint customers' valuable data assets for the long-term."

QStar's media verification is initially available for HP StoreEver ESL G3 enterprise tape libraries and will support HP StoreEver MSL6480 mid-range tape libraries in early 2015. QStar will demonstrate this new functionality at HP Discover in Barcelona, 2^nd to 4^th December 2014.

About QStar Technologies

Since 1987, QStar Technologies is a leading global provider of enterprise-class archive and data management software solutions. The world's leading companies rely on QStar for secure, cost effective and reliable protection of their valuable digital assets. www.qstar.com. QStar will discuss archiving solutions for Hewlett Packard's users and resellers at HP Discover in Barcelona.

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