Imation Unveils Fortified Data Security for Archive Storage

Imation (NYSE:IMN), a global data storage and information security company, today announced that it has introduced a way for IT administrators to better ensure data security in their archive storage. The new Nexsan Assureon™ 8.0 secure archive storage system, which is now generally available to the market, contains features and functionality that significantly boost system simplicity and take users’ data protection strategies to new heights.

In detail, the enhancements in Assureon 8.0 are:

• Faster access to data – Enhanced search options significantly speed file and data recall making recovery near instantaneous.
• Call home functionality – New automated system reports are directly sent to Assureon Customer Support so users can proactively troubleshoot and protect their Assureon systems.
• Concurrent synchronizations – Multiple synchronizations can now be executed at the same time, providing better archiving strategies to ensure data is being protected in a timely manner.
• Virtual shortcuts and failover using TCP on Infiniband – Support for Assureon over TCP adds failover to a second site using Infiniband™, thus protecting data even further.
• New user interface – Assureon’s new management interface introduces a new level of simplicity by bringing all the benefits together under one management console. Users can do even more from one simple interface.

“IT administrators must have absolute confidence that their files will be kept secure and contain the exact same data over time as they did when they were created,” said Mike Stolz, vice president of marketing and technical support for Imation’s Nexsan solutions. “With the Assureon 8, we provide our growing customer base with an even simpler platform to securely preserve and access their high value data. At the same time, new functionality provides our customers and partners even more data protection and ROI.”

Optimizing data storage requires moving infrequently accessed data from expensive, high-performance primary storage to lower-cost secondary storage. This secondary tier of storage functions as an archive, so IT administrators must ensure that their storage optimization strategy provides the same level of data protection (if not more) that they would expect from their primary storage. One fundamental problem with conventional archive or backup solutions has been that administrators discover there’s a problem with data loss only when they go to access a file and it doesn’t open, or it isn’t there at all. If a backup was done after the corruption or data loss, it does nothing to repair or restore a file to its undamaged, original state. In addition, conventional solutions do not have the capability to monitor the availability and health of each file, and manually verifying the existence and integrity of all of the potentially millions of files by opening each of them is a practical impossibility. Administrators are busy enough managing their primary storage and hardly have the time or resources to manage another.

Imation’s Nexsan Assureon is a family of secure storage solutions that solve these problems and reduce storage cost by offloading and deduplicating data from primary storage that is infrequently used or has aged by policy. Assureon, through policy automation, can eliminate or greatly reduce the size, cost and complexity of backups for primary and infrequently accessed data. Data integrity features like file-fingerprinting and automated self-healing integrity checks ensure that high-value data is protected throughout its lifecycle. Assureon’s security features also comply with corporate and governmental regulatory requirements, making it the ideal solution for medical, financial and government organizations. Architected to be automated and hands-off, the Assureon experience allows administrators to focus resources and spending on primary storage.

Assureon is just one part of Imation’s deep Nexsan portfolio of purpose-built storage solutions, enabling users to deploy the right storage products for the right application. The other Nexsan product lines are:

• Imation’s Nexsan NST™ is a set of flexible hybrid storage appliances that scale to meet mid-sized organization application and storage needs with unified NAS and SAN access capabilities in a single solution.
• Imation’s Nexsan E-Series™ is a family of high-density, high-performance and highly reliable storage solutions that can be directly attached or networked to workstations and servers.

For more information on Imation’s Nexsan storage solutions, visit www.imation.com/nexsan.

About Imation

Imation (NYSE:IMN) is a global data storage and information security company. Our products and solutions help organizations and individuals store, manage and protect their digital content. Imation’s storage and security portfolio includes Nexsan high-density, archive and solid-state optimized unified hybrid storage solutions; IronKey™ mobile security solutions that address the needs of professionals for secure data transport and mobile workspaces; and consumer storage solutions, audio products and accessories sold under the Imation, Memorex and TDK Life on Record brands. Imation reaches customers in more than 100 countries through a powerful global distribution network. For more information, visit www.imation.com.

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Imation, the Imation logo, Nexsan, the Nexsan by Imation logo, IronKey, NST, E-Series, Assureon and Memorex are trademarks of Imation Corp. TDK Life on Record is a trademark of TDK Corporation and is used under license. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.