Spectra HPC Solutions

Your high performance environment continually tests the limits of technology and requires peak performance from all of your equipment—including your storage. Spectra’s data storage solutions help you push the boundaries of your operational objectives, giving you cost-effective storage that meets all of your performance, growth, and environmental needs. Spectra Logic builds some of the world’s largest storage systems.

“The incorporation of Spectra Logic’s active archive solution provides a platform for storage growth. It allows us to keep our primary data online and accessible to users, while also increasing the reliability of our stored data across physical sites.”
Allan Williams, Associate Director NCI

TFinity High Peformance
Transporter 2020

Los Alamos National Labs and Spectra Success Story Customer Success

Breakthrough Tape Advancements for Massive Data Storage Needs: Spectra’s TFinity and IBM’s TS1160 Technology

With double the capacity of the TS1150, the new TS1160 breaks new barriers, offering users the largest capacity per tape and the fastest data rate of any tape technology available on the market.
TS1160
Spectra continues to stay ahead of the curve with its industry leading density, rich library features and world class support. With 50 to 40,680 TS1160 slots, you can store over 813.6PB (2.03EB compressed*) of data with IBM® TS1160 tape technology in Spectra’s TFinity ExaScale. With up to 144 drives you can transfer data up to 207.4TB/hr. (466.6TB/hr. compressed*) using TS1160 tape technology.

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TS1160 Drive Features

Largest Storage Solution in the World
With 20TB native (50TB compressed at a 2.5:1 compression ratio) organizations can protect their expanding repositories of data. In fact, a Spectra TFinity ExaScale Tape Library can hold more than 2 exabytes of data on TS1160 tape media in a single library, making TFinity the world’s largest single storage device in the world.
Fast Performance
Experience shorter backup windows and improved data access with the fastest tape drive on the market, delivering native data transfer rates of 400 MB/s and compressed data transfer rates of 900 MB/s*.
Updated Drive Interface
TS1160 now has a 16 gig FC interface, meaning that it better matches modern datacenter switches and HBA’s. The TS1160 RoCE drive offers a 25GbE interface.
Digital Speed Matching
Is a technique that adjusts the physical tape speed to match the actual effective data rate on the host interface as closely as possible. Speed matching enables better performance and reliability.
Large Data Buffer
(2GB internal data buffer) minimizes speed mismatches between the tape drive and host application improving data throughput and reducing wear and tear on the drive and media.
High Resolution Tape Directory
Enables the drive to reach the target data block in a single high speed seek operation without redundant search operations thereby improving access performance to the data.
Backwards Compatibility
TS1160 technology tape drives allow TS1150 / 3592 JD tape cartridges to be reformatted increasing capacity from 10TB to 15TB. With TS1160 technology tape drives allow read only access of the TS1140 / 3592 JC tape cartridge. It will also work with TS1155 JD cartridges.
Linear Tape File System (LTFS)
Allows users to organize and search the contents of a tape with the same methodology as a hard disk, improving access time to data. LTFS also makes it possible to drag and drop files in the same manner as disk.
HPC-TFIN-ExaScaleExtremely Scalable
Spectra tape libraries are designed for intelligent expansion to accommodate massively growing data sets. A TFinity® ExaScale, for example, can scale to 2 exabytes (compressed) in a single 44-frame library and more than 12EB in its 352-frame complex. Spectra tape libraries can meet your evolving needs and give you cost-effective storage during every stage of your growth.Intensely Dense Storage
When data center real estate counts, Spectra Logic libraries offer unsurpassed storage density and minimal footprint through a unique and highly efficient design. Based on Spectra’s TeraPack architecture, Spectra tape libraries provide up to 50% improvement in data center floor space utilization. Increase your storage capacity in as little as 9 (TS Tape Technology) or 10 (LTO Technology) increments, the most granular and flexible in the industry. This dramatic, industry-leading storage density not only saves you data center space but also fits co-located and standardized data center designs.

Highly Energy Efficient
Save money with intelligent and power-efficient storage. Tape is the most cost-effective media for storing massive amounts of data, and Spectra tape libraries also consume the least amount of power when compared to competing libraries.

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The Spectra TFinity® ExaScale Tape Library

Why it’s the ideal high performance computing archive target:

Bulk Loading: Less Media Handling
HPC-Bulk-Loading-Thumb-Jun23-2017

All TFinity ExaScale tape libraries support BulkTAP end units as an optional hardware feature. Each BulkTAP allows 14 TeraPacks to be imported or exported in a single user operation. The TFinity ExaScale will additionally support the use of up to two BulkTAPS simultaneously for decreased loading-to-working time for organizations who eject/load large amounts of media from their library.

Tri-Media: Three Different Tape Technologies in the Same Library
HPC-Tri-Media-Tapes-Jun23-2017

The TFinity ExaScale has the unique ability to support multiple media and drive technologies in a single tape library: LTO tape technology, IBM’s TS11XX tape technology, and Oracle’s T10000 tape drives and media. This feature enables customers to migrate between different media technologies within the same library, and eliminates vendor lock-in. Only Spectra offers support for all three major tape technologies, and supports Object Storage with LTFS, making your archives non-proprietary.

High Performance Transporter
The High Performance Transporter (HPT) in the TFinity ExaScale was redesigned from the ground up to provide increased performance, enhanced reliability and superior media handling of all three tape media formats. Spectra’s HPT accomplishes this and more with reduced cycle/tape mount time, providing better performance, and increased mean time between failures, translating into better reliability. Each TFinity ExaScale tape library contains two HPTs for dual operations.
Secure XML Interface
Spectra Logic libraries support a secure XML command interface for control, configuration, and reporting. This XML interface enables customers to develop and deploy their own interfaces for the library configuration, status, inventory reporting, and diagnostics.
Performance Improvements
HPC-Chart-Jun23-2017-2

In order to achieve ultimate process efficiency, mounts per hour and cycle times in an HPC environment must be as fast as possible. Spectra R&D ensures that all its tape libraries, particularly the TFinity ExaScale, realize maximum speeds.

High Performance Computing Tiered Storage Support
HPC-Partners-Jun23-2017

The Spectra Logic TFinity ExaScale tape library is engineered to support demanding HPC storage environments. With native support for HPSS, SGI DMF, and Versity Storage Manager, and extensive integrations through Spectra Logic’s BlackPearl object gateway, the TFinity ExaScale can meet the storage needs of any HPC environment.

Spectra® BlackPearl® Converged Storage System


Spectra BlackPearl Converged Storage System solves the problem of costly and complex approaches to digital preservation by combining NAS and S3-based interfaces with multiple storage targets into a simple and affordable solution. Designed for numerous concurrent workflows, BlackPearl reduces the need for expensive third-party data movers by integrating Spectra S3 with a range of certified clients and simple file movers.

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Upcoming HPC Events

15novAll Day18SC21American’s Center, St. Louis, MO

Spectra Logic’s Matt Starr at Supercomputing Tech Talk

Spectra HPC Hybrid Storage Ecosystem supports massive amounts of data
Case Studies

Resources

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"When we set out on our search to find a storage solution capable of preserving Imperial War Museums’ substantial digital archive, there were specific criteria on which we were not willing to compromise. Spectra met all of our requirements and then some, and now continues to deliver with StorCycle’s storage lifecycle management capabilities."

– Ian Crawford, Chief Information Officer, Imperial War Museums

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– Eric Grau, Manager – Media Asset Management, Joyce Meyer Ministries

"We appreciate the collaborative relationship and Spectra’s attentiveness to incorporating our feedback and ideas into solution enhancements. Our continuing investment into Spectra technology on behalf of our organization has proven invaluable in helping us implement the next level architectural model taking us into the future."

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– HPC Linux Systems Engineer, OLCF

"The new library has just shy of 14,000 slots for tapes. We were able to easily move all 70 petabytes of existing data into the new system and have grown to 104 petabytes in size and have plenty of room for at least a year or two before we have to start thinking about expanding."

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– Jeffrey McDonald, director of IT, Hormel Institute at University of Minnesota

"We have to store a lot of data for long periods of time. A single microscope can capture 10TB of data in as little as a few hours, and a published breakthrough on cancer research can take anywhere from a few years to a couple of decades. The BlackPearl and tape solution from Spectra provides a scalable and cost-effective way to store multiple data workflows with varying retention requirements."

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