Knowledge Media Institute Relies On QXS Hybrid Storage For Storage Demands

开放大学的知识媒体研究所（KMI）对未来的互联网技术，多媒体和信息系统，新媒体系统和语义网络和知识服务进行了研究。它正在迅速扩展，存储要求也是如此。

“我们现有的SAN难以扩大，”KMI的IT服务Maul Alexander，System和Development Manager解释说明。“除容量限制外，我们还面临许可证费用，以将每个配置扩展到其他jBods。我们需要找到一个新的平台，可以轻松扩展加上存储密度高性能，因为数据中心空间始终处于数据中心优质的。”

“The ability to freely mix drive types to create a tiered architecture was also important,” explains Alexander. “We knew that our storage system requirements were ambitious, and we really didn’t expect to meet all of our parameters within our budget. However, we contacted our long-standing storage and virtualization partner, NCE, who proposed the Quantum hybrid storage series as the ideal candidate.”

建立高性能虚拟化基础架构

Paul evaluated the Quantum QXS-324, an 8GB FC networked RAID array based on 2.5-inch drive technology.

“We didn’t realize that a 24-drive 2U chassis using 2.5-inch small form factor drives were available in the general IT channel market until we met theQuantum QXS混合储存系列，“亚历山大召回。“使用3TB SATA驱动器自由混合驱动类型和扩展到288TB的能力确实使这是未来防伪我们的SAN的理想平台。”

The data workload characteristics at KMi vary considerably between projects, so the QXS storage’s ability to mix drive types, including SAS, SATA, and SSD, has proved invaluable to the team.

“经常，我们拥有HPC要求，其中高性能2.5英寸SAS驱动器在我们的光纤通道SAN运行，提供我们所需的性能。然而，大多数研究项目都有三年积极的生活和五年的数据档案要求，因此我们可以为此目的利用较低的成本散装SATA存储，“亚历山大解释。

虚拟化在KMI广泛使用，因此QXS系列的全VMware认证提供安心，其小型尺寸（SFF）2.5英寸驱动器在性能密度方面提供了显着的优势。

提供灵活性

KMi also has the option of expanding each configuration using 3.5-inch drives, which will support the largest capacity SATA drives.

“The massive flexibility of the QXS hybrid storage systems is a great asset. We can mix drive types and sizes and the modular design of the systems means that we can upgrade our RAID controllers in the future, but maintain access to all of our existing data with maximum reuse of our investments. Many competitive offerings we considered called for a completely new infrastructure when moving up the chain in terms of performance or features,” says Alexander.

Accommodating a Vast Range of Workloads

通常，KMI项目需要HPC资源，其中与SAN和非维加化计算资源的直接物理连接至关重要。

“我们广泛使用QXS-324阵列，以便我们的HPC项目，并且存储基础架构从未成为瓶颈。我们的SAN是4GB FC立即 - 但是当我们这样移动到8GB时，QXS混合存储系统将准备好利用增加的带宽。在频谱的另一端，我们只需要使用灯流量或开发工具访问Web服务器的客户端。在这里，我们通过虚拟化最大化我们的硬件利用率，“亚历山大解释。

“Quantum QXS hybrid storage has been a winner for us on many fronts and will hopefully accommodate our data needs as we continue to expand.”