Quantum today announced the Guardian 4400 Network Attached Storage (NAS) server, the latest addition to it’s Guardian NAS family of products. Guardian 4400 features maximum RAID 5 transfer rates of 160 megabits/second, hot swappable drives, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports and two capacity points, 480GB and 640GB, in a high-density 1U (rack unit) design.
Key features of the 4400 include:
- Cross-platform file sharing support for Windows, UNIX, Linux and Macintosh clients.
- Maximum data transfer rate of 160 Mb/second in RAID 5.
- Front loading, hot swappable disk drives.
- Dual Gigabit Ethernet ports with load balancing and failover.
- Embedded fast backup to SCSI-attached tape drive or library via Backup.
- Express for Guardian (included tape drive support; available library support).
- Server-to-Server (S2S) Synchronization software.
- Available DiskXtender(TM) Appliance Edition (DX/AE) and EmailArchive(TM) software.
- Snapshot technology for taking point-in-time file system images.
- Security through Kerberos authentication v5 in Microsoft ADS; Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Secure Shell (SSH).
- Embedded network backup agent support for major third party backup vendors, such as CA, VERITAS and Legato.
- Integrated Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to ensure compatibility with customers’ existing management software, such as CA Unicenter, HP OpenView and Tivoli NetView.
“While storage demands continue to grow at astounding rates, IT budgets remain constrained,” said Steve Rogers, vice president of networked storage products marketing for Quantum’s Storage Solutions Group. “As such, IT managers are looking for solutions that provide maximum value. Guardian 4400 raises the bar on out-of-the-box functionality and data protection capabilities to provide our customers with the best features, performance, simplicity and value.”
“In the past 12 months, we have seen the feature set mature in NAS products aimed at small businesses and workgroups. Quantum’s latest Guardian product certainly supports this trend,” said Brad Nisbet, senior research analyst at IDC. “With the addition of direct tape backup, Quantum has laid a foundation on which to build the complete NAS solutions that today’s customers demand.”
The Guardian 4400 has an MSRP of $5,495 for the 640GB server and $4,295 for the 480GB server. These prices include a standard three-year rapid exchange warranty.
Quantum also introduced today Version 2.1 of the Guardian Operating System (OS), based on Linux. This newly enhanced OS, features the addition of Backup Express for Guardian software. Backup Express(TM) for Guardian, an embedded software application, allows users to complete a variety of backups within the backup window while reducing network traffic by backing up Guardian servers directly to a SCSI-attached tape drive or tape library.
Guardian OS v2.1 with Backup Express for Guardian software is standard in the Guardian 4400 and available to current Guardian 14000 customers via free download and CD. Backup Express for Guardian comes standard with single tape drive support. Tape library support is license key-enabled for library type.
With Backup Express for Guardian, the backup process can be easily managed via client-based graphical user interface — bypassing the traditional network-based backup server for more rapid and cost-effective protection. Customers seeking maximum scalability can interconnect up to five Guardian servers via Gigabit Ethernet, and then backup all units to a single tape drive or library.
Quantum will certify integrated storage solutions based upon the Guardian 4400 and Guardian 14000 and its embedded Backup Express for Guardian software matched to complementary Quantum tape library products.
Initially, Quantum will certify two integrated solutions, targeted for a variety of applications and business needs. The entry-enterprise solution matches a Guardian 14000 with a Quantum ATL M1500 tape library and the workgroup solution matches a Quantum Guardian 4400 integrated with a Quantum SuperLoader.
