Two of the new products, Q-Cloud Archive and Q-Cloud Vault use public cloud as an off-site tier within a Quantum StorNext 5 workflow environment. Q-Cloud Protect for Amazon Web Services enables customers using Quantum’s DXi deduplication appliances to replicate data to the AWS cloud.

Quantum says that rather than treat the cloud as a passive repository or the answer to all needs it will integrate the cloud as an active tier in a hybrid storage infrastructure driven by application requirements. This, it argues, provides customers with an optimal mix of performance, access, scale and efficiency and is the basis for these and future Q-Cloud announcements.

More on Q-Cloud Archive and Q-Cloud Vault

Q-Cloud Archive provides fast, on-demand access to data in the cloud while Q-Cloud Vault offers “cold storage” for long-term data retention and disaster recovery. Key features beyond general cloud advantages include:

• Full integration as a tier in StorNext 5-managed workflows, with automated, policy-based data movement
• No additional hardware, separate applications or programming needed
• Agility in addressing changing workload demands
• Reliability of global public cloud infrastructure
• Straight-forward pricing and billing directly from Quantum

More on Q-Cloud Protect for AWS

Offered as a subscription service through the Amazon Marketplace, Q-Cloud Protect for AWS enables customers to replicate from either a physical or virtual DXi appliance on premise to a virtual DXi instance in the AWS cloud. Key features and benefits include:

• Easy access to the Amazon public cloud and its benefits, with no changes to applications or processes
• Cost savings enabled by the most efficient method of data deduplication
• Secure, encrypted data in transit and at rest

Q-Cloud Archive is available now while Q-Cloud Vault will be available in the second half of 2015. Q-Cloud Protect for AWS will be available next quarter.

Commending the approach Dave Simpson, senior analyst, Storage, 451 Research, said: “It’s important to view the cloud as another storage tier option rather than a place where all data should reside. That’s the approach Quantum has taken, building on its expertise in managing and protecting data within and across storage tiers. In addition, the new Q-Cloud offerings enhance the value that both StorNext and DXi provide, not only to existing Quantum customers but also to other users that have been hesitant about incorporating the cloud.”

Adds Geoff Stedman, svp, StorNext solutions, Quantum: “Effective data management is about putting data in the right place at the right time with the right technology, guided by a customer’s workflow or application. That’s why we designed our new Q-Cloud solutions to be deployed in broader, intelligently managed hybrid architectures that enable customers to optimise the use of both on-premise and cloud storage in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible.”