Teradata has launched a new Virtual Storage software which it claims to allow customers add storage capacity at low cost and maximise performance to meet the enterprise intelligence demands of business users.
According to Teradata, the new Virtual Storage, enabled by Teradata 13 Database, is a database management software that automatically manages data placement from a data ‘temperature’ perspective. This feature helps to automatically place the most frequently used or ‘hot’ data on the fastest storage units and the least used or ‘cold’ data on the slowest storage units without user or administrator intervention.
The company said that the proper placement of data supports high-performance access to hot data in support of real time decision making, and provides an automated lifecycle management process as data age or ‘cool’ and migrate to less expensive drives. As the usage of data changes over its lifetime, Teradata Virtual Storage automatically moves the data to the most appropriate storage location.
The company claims that the adoption of virtual storage will minimise e-waste by extending the life span of older storage arrays as they can be combined with newer and higher capacity storage technology. It also allows customers to expand their data storage without substantially increasing energy usage or floor space as they can mix drive capacities in their system.
Scott Gnau, head of development at Teradata, said: “This unique Teradata capability reduces the cost of adding additional storage by as much as 10 times, making it cost effective to meet the ever-increasing demands to store and analyse more data.”
“The advanced design of Teradata Virtual Storage makes it possible to mix both small and large capacity drives in the same system – and get maximum performance from each. For instance, customers can combine of 146 gigabyte and 300 gigabyte drives to maximise storage and achieve higher performance at a lower cost,” Gnau added.
