EMC Launches High-End VTL Devices

May 29, 2007 Alex Woodie

EMC last week unveiled a new virtual tape library based on its Symmetrix DMX-3 disk array that can scale up to 1.8 petabytes of data. The storage giant is positioning the new device, the Disk Library 6000 series, as a VTL consolidation platform that can also save customers’ money on power and cooling costs.

Next month EMC will begin shipping the DL6000 Series, which will include two models: the DL6100 and the DL6300. Both models will be equipped with 500 GB Fibre Channel disks spinning at 7,200 RPM, and include a dozen or two ports for connecting to servers on the front end and tape libraries, if desired, on the backend.

The EMC DL6100 will support up to 1,440 disk drives in a single system and offer RAID 5 protection with a maximum useable uncompressed capacity of 615 TB and up to 1.845 petabytes of compressed capacity. The EMC DL6300 will support up to 2,400 disk drives in a single system and offers RAID 1 protection with a maximum uncompressed capacity of 584 terabytes, and up to 1.8 petabytes of compressed capacity. Total throughput for the DL6100 will top out at 6.4 TB of uncompressed data per hour, while the DL6300 will deliver 11.4 TB per hour. When the company adds de-duplication capabilities in 2008, the product’s capacity to store meaningful data should go up even more.

Both devices will be able to emulate hundreds of virtual tape libraries, thousands of virtual tape drives, and hundreds of thousands of virtual tape cartridges, making it a good candidate for VTL consolidation. According to EMC, customers can cut their annual power and cooling costs by up to 30 percent when they consolidate their old VTLs onto the new DL6000 libraries.

EMC launched its first VTL product in 2004, and the latest DL6000 line builds off EMC’s early success in the field, says David Donatelli, EMC’s executive vice president for storage product operations. “The EMC DL6000 Series significantly expands these benefits for high-end customers by taking advantage of the flexibility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness of the . . . Symmetrix DMX-3 storage system,” he says.