Copan unveils archival version of MAID array

Computerworld - LAS VEGAS -- Copan Systems Inc. yesterday announced a new archival version of its massive array of idle disk (MAID) technology that allows users to retrieve their own files from online in a way that prevents them from corrupting existing files.
The hardware, which offers retrieval of data based on metadata and not hash keys, is aimed squarely at taking market share from EMC Corp.'s Centera content-addressed storage array.
"This thing puts [Copan] into the archiving game with a much better price/performance," said Arun Taneja, founder of research firm Teneja Group in Hopkinton, Mass.
The new array, the Revolution 200A, was announced at Storage Decisions here and is based on the company's existing hardware platform. The hardware will be widely available in January and will sell for about $3 per gigabyte of capacity, according to CEO Roger Archibald.
Unlike its predecessor, the Revolution 200T, which emulated a tape library to backup servers, the upgraded model allows IT administrators to store data in file format for long-term archival.
Peter Carucci, a technology consultant who works for the New York Stock Exchange Inc. (NYSE), said he could see the NYSE's IT department adopting the technology because of its ability to archive online hundreds of terabytes of data in a single rack. "We're definitely going to look at it," he said.
Copan's Revolution 200T is an array filled with relatively inexpensive ATA-based disk drives that can scale up to 224TB of capacity and has been positioned as a virtual tape library by using software from FalconStor Software Inc.
While the Revolution 200T sat on a storage-area network, the 200A model is designed to sit on a LAN and has four 1GB Ethernet ports.
A new software application called Millennia Archive stores data on the 200A using the SHA-256 hashing algorithm to ensure that each file is unchangeable. Any change to a file automatically creates another version. The array also allows users to search for files by name, data or other characteristics stored in metadata.
"Application servers can either schedule copies of data [to other arrays] or the migration of data," said Archibald.
Taneja said Copan has an advantage over EMC's Centera in that it uses SHA-256 instead of the MD5 hashing algorithm, which is far less secure. "The problem with 128-bit MD5 is it's possible to have two files that give you the same hash [index]. SHA-256 is not foolproof, but it's two to the power of 128 more secure," he said.
Another advantage Copan's array has over Centera is that it can