Sun Microsystems announced the latest additions to its open archive portfolio, adding a scalable, energy-conscious midrange modular library and tape drive. In addition, Sun introduced enhancements to archive data security and release of a multi-tiered archive appliance that will work heterogeneously with Solaris 10 Operating System (OS) and other operating systems. Sun also announced that is has donated the source code for the Sun StorageTek 5800 system, formerly known as "Project Honeycomb," to open source communities.

The new Sun StorageTek SL3000 is a midrange library to deliver enterprise-class availability and features like non-disruptive capacity and performance scalability. In addition, the new technology allows for multiple partitioning options to consolidate existing library assets and offers support for open systems and mainframe environments.

"Sun's extensive portfolio of innovative, scalable, open archive solutions change the economic equation for companies that need to manage their IT bottom lines - despite exponential data growth and ever-expanding retention periods," said Jon Benson, senior vice-president of Storage, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "As the most open storage vendor on the planet, Sun is committed to delivering archive solutions that leverage open source software and to using open formats and APIs that both 'future-proof' customers against costly technology changes down the road and blow the lid off of competing high-margin proprietary offerings."

Archive is one of the fastest growing segments of the storage market, fueled by an explosion in unstructured data growth, longer data retention periods, organizations leveraging digital assets for business growth, regulatory compliance and overall storage optimization needs. This announcement is the latest in Sun's efforts to bring the design innovation of enterprise archive to the network economy, giving customers smarter choices in managing exponential data growth for 'forever' retention periods with systems that can scale to petabytes and provide the ability to efficiently search for content across different types of data.

New Archive Products Launched

• StorageTek SL3000 Modular Library System
• Sun StorageTek T9840D Tape Drives
• Sun Crypto Key Management System (KMS) 2.0
• Sun Customer Ready Infinite Archive System