Cloud Storage Solutions

Fast, easy and affordable cloud storage solutions for small to medium businesses IceWEB’s Unified Data Storage appliances provide affordable, scalable and nimble storage solutions for small, medium and large businesses that are looking to embrace the power and security of cloud storage to enable replication, disaster recovery, high availability and big data analytics. Recently named “Best in Class” for replication in the DCIG 2012 Midrange Array Buyer’s Guide, the IceSTORM OS on IceWEB Unified Storage Appliances supports asynchronous replication, and supports all four types of snapshots (AoW, CoW, Full Copy and Split Mirror) providing a truly flexible and nimble storage solution for your cloud computing approach.

IceWEB IceSTORM OS

Replication Software Licensing Included on all IceWEB Unified Storage Appliances

By including the replication software with all IceWEB Storage Appliances, organizations are free to use IceWEB’s replication software as they see fit, enabling them to use replication for their cloud storage approaches in ways they might not have otherwise anticipated if bound by separate licensing structures.

Supports Unlimited Snapshots

IceWEB’s snapshot feature can theoretically support the creation of an unlimited number of snapshots, thus reducing the recover y point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO) both locally and in the cloud.

Flexible Snapshot Capabilities

Closely tied to IceWEB’s ability to scale to an unlimited number of snapshots is the flexibility that IceSTORM OS gives organizations to manage snapshots and then utilize them once they are created. Using the IceSTORM OS organizations may:

• Create snapshots based upon a preset schedule
• Manually initiate a snapshot at any time
• Create a consistency group by identifying a group of volumes associated with a particular host or application and then initiating a snapshot across of all those volumes simultaneously
• Read from the snapshot to do a backup or perform a search to comply with an eDiscovery request
• Convert an existing snapshot from read-only to read/write or create a read/write snapshot so the data on the snapshot may be read from and written to during testing and development

Replication across All IceWEB Unified Storage Appliances

What ultimately makes IceWEB’s Unified Storage Appliances affordable and practical for cloud storage approaches is that organizations may use its asynchronous replication software to replicate data between any IceWEB Unified Storage Appliance.

Replication for Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery and High Availability

Having asynchronous replication natively available on IceWEB Unified Storage Appliances opens the door for organizations to explore business continuity, disaster recovery, high availability and even new data protection options that were typically beyond their means.

By continuously replicating data over a TCP/IP network using IceWEB’s asynchronous replication option, organizations may create a near real-time copy of the volume or volumes from another IceWEB Unified Storage Appliance.

Once data is replicated to a second system, multiple use cases emerge for how it may then be used. The replication found on the IceWEB Unified Storage Appliances also facilitates the introduction of application high availability. The need for applications to be “always-on” grows daily and even “minor” application.

• Take snapshots of replicated data. As can be done on the primary system, snapshots may also be done on the second system to be used for archives, backups, eDiscovery searches, litigation holds, or sources for recoveries. However taking snapshots at a second site eliminates the need to backup snapshots and move them offsite.
• Do regularly scheduled business continuity and disaster recovery testing. Getting the data recovered and in place prior to doing a DR test tends to be the most time consuming component of doing a DR test. Using replication, the data is in place so organizations are prepared to schedule and do DR tests or even initiate a full recovery should the need arise.
• Positions them to do recoveries in the “cloud.” The clock is ticking as to when organizations are going to stop replicating data to their own secondary site and start replicating data to the “cloud.”

Using IceWEB’s cloud storage appliances, organizations can begin to explore the possibility of placing an IceWEB Unified Storage Appliance with a cloud provider and replicating data to that cloud provider. This eliminates the need for the organization to have a dedicated secondary site and minimizes its cost to implement a viable DR plan.