For our very first Wolberry blog post, we take a look at how Optical Disc Archiving can provide an economical benefit to companies – particularly with Research Organisations.
Scientific research organisations have never been more reliant on preserving and accessing large volumes of data. From charting test results, reports, breakthroughs and more – the ability to be able to access past data is vital in this line of work.
Today, there are various methods of data storage organisations could adapt to help preserve their work. One method that could be considered is the Cloud. In the current climate developing online solutions, the Cloud makes an appealing proposition to keep in line with today’s technology.
The alternative to the cloud can be found in the physical form. Tape and Disk both offer reasonable backup technology but prove costly in the long run – especially with refreshing of technology.
The final physical alternative is something that is new to the market but can be faster and more dependable than the previous options; this is known as Optical Disc Archive. A storage technology pioneered by Sony that stores data onto a cartridge containing up to 12 internal optical discs – similar in quality to Blu-Ray discs.
An Optical Disc Archive solution comes with a variety of benefits to Research Organisations. One of the key benefits is the low operational costs the technology can offer. Various storage solutions come with their own additional costs – tech support, physical media, energy costs, off site media vaulting, technology refreshes, etc. While there maybe no sudden difference in costs between storage solutions, over time the costs of maintaining and continuing a solution build and this is where the Optical Disc Archive solution is economically the best solution for organisations.
A breakdown of the costs over 20 years focusing on the storage technologies of 1 Petabyte of data can be viewed below.
This 20-year cycle, the overall cost of ownership for a 1 Petabyte Optical Disc Archive solution works out to be 7 times cheaper than a standard disk storage solution. Optical Disc Archives solution also works out to be three times cheaper than tape storage and two times cheaper than cloud solutions.
Not only is Optical Disc Archive a faster and more dependable storage solution than tape, but it’s also equally suited to the near-line storage and longer-term archiving applications that Researchers require when undertaking vital work.
The Optical Disc Archiving solution fits into a Research’s organisation’s existing data life cycle management and when combined with the 100-year media life expectancy provided by Sony there is no need for specially controlled storage conditions or regular media migration. It’s backwards compatibility allows this. Adapting any new technology storage solution is a big step forward for any organisation. However, what organisations would likely not want to do is to invest in a new storage solution – only to find out that in 3 to 5 years time – they need to update their solution to the latest standards. The all generation backwards compatibility prevents the need to repeatedly transfer data from old technology.
As an enterprise partner of Sony, Wolberry is the only independent consultancy that can bring Optical Disc Archiving to companies within the United Kingdom. Our consultancy specialises in measuring efficiencies in IT Infrastructure, to reveal the significant savings your organisation can achieve. You can find out more about Optical Disc Archive technology by visiting our website at wolberry.com. If Optical Disc Archiving isn’t for your company right now, we also can design and optimise IT infrastructure in data centres or IT Cloud technologies.