The NEOS Agility - making increasing amounts of data more accessible

Introducing the new NEO Agility product. This product is an LTFS (linear Tape Open File System) workflow manager that easily archives files while providing the advantages of tape technologies which are reliability low-cost high capacity and low energy consumption. The data is presented in a windows desktop environment for easy use.

The NEO Agility appliance reduces the complexity and ensures compliance with a multitude of different systems. It also provides superior superior reliability for long-term archiving for video post production. In the post production world storage needs to be reliable to provide long-term archives for video content they need to be easy to use. Using LTFS, users can easily determine the contents of the cartridge. It also allows video to be shared between locations regardless of the platform. The appliance also provides multiple copies of data for offsite data protection

• Provides easy access to files
  Even though archived files may be physically located on tape, users have convenient access to the data. Files appear in the OS directory tree structure just as if they were located in primary storage. Because LTO cartridges contained in the NEO Agility solution are self-describing, they contain all the file system information needed to recover data and can be easily transferred between archive systems.


• Familiar file system user interface
  NEO Agility presents a familiar Windows File structure user interface allowing files to be easily moved to and from the client computer and NEO tape library with simple drag and drop actions across the network. Because files are written to and retrieved from the archive as if through a standard disk-based volume or network share, NEO Agility is easily used with most applications.


• Provides cost-effective NAS storage
  Accessing your NEO Series tape library as a shared NAS allows easy exchange of data between primary and archive storage. Because NEO Agility allows you to easily archive data off to tape, even though it appears as if the archive is on disk, the content needing to be stored is minimized, providing the IT administrator with the bandwidth to focus on other activities.


• Superior compatibility
  Files stored on NEO Agility are immediately available to your file system and other applications. NEO Agility accepts all file types and presents in a Windows file/folder structure. Files are transferred to/from the archive locally or using either the standard Windows network protocol (CIFS/SMB) or FTP file transfers. NEO Agility can also be connected with a SAN via fibre channel. In addition, NEO Agility provides an object storage interface using an XML API. These interface options mean that NEO Agility effortlessly works with a variety of applications natively and can provide third-party applications with the ability to control and monitor the archive system, Windows, MAC and Linux.


• Replication of data
  NEO Agility software can automatically replicate LTO cartridges that may have been exported from the NEO series library for off-site retention, providing strong data protection and disaster recovery.


• Frees up expensive primary storage
  With NEO Agility, there’s no need to clutter up expensive primary storage space with files you may not need frequently or instantaneously. The ease of use of NEO Agility means you can effortlessly move data to tape while still having rapid and reliable access to that data as needed. By providing support for LTFS and TAR formats, NEO Agility also avoids costly vendor lock-in and proprietary formats.


• Simplified installation and use
  Setting up a NEO Agility appliance is as simple as plugging it in and connecting it to your host and NEO tape library. Minimizing the use of IT resources to setup and manage the NEO Agility solution means cost of ownership is reduced and users can quickly begin sharing and archiving important data. Alert modules contained within NEO Agility provide email and on-screen alerts which can be tailored to specific IT personnel requirements. Additionally, reporting can be configured to provide information on files contained on any cartridge, improving usability and reducing the load on busy IT personnel.


• Flexible storage capacities
  Grow into, not out of, your storage. Both NEO Agility and its compatible NEO series tape libraries scale to meet your particular data storage needs. And because you can utilize your NEO series library for both NEO Agility archive and traditional backup activities, the flexibility and efficiency of your NEO solution provides the ultimate in investment protection. Unlike other basic LTFS solutions, NEO Agility supports LTO cartridge spanning, preventing archive operations from being limited by the capacity of the LTO cartridges. With NEO Agility’s ability to manage an unlimited number of offline cartridges, the capacity of the NEO Agility archive becomes infinite.


• Compatibility with NEO libraries
  NEO Agility is optimized for, and compatible with, NEOs T24, NEOs T48, NEOxl 80 and NEO 8000e tape libraries. With storage capacities ranging from 36TB to 15PB, NEO series solutions provide the backup and archive solution tailored to fit your particular data storage needs. NEO Agility is also compatible with tape libraries manufactured by other vendors; this provides the NEO Agility archiving advantages in environments that haven’t yet taken advantage of the benefits provided by a NEO Series tape library.