What it does? The MDL is a Mainframe VTL storage controller that emulates legacy mainframe tapes and writes it to modern disk-based servers via standard NAS or SAN protocols. The MDL leverages existing FICON/ESCON channels for simple deployment and delivers significant advantages over physical tapes, including: shortened batch processing windows, improved data retrieval, lower operating costs, improved RTO/RPO characteristics and improved data security.
By bridging the gap between the mainframe and open systems worlds, the MDL allows for vastly superior backup and disaster recovery capabilities, eliminating the risk of lost/damaged tapes, unplanned downtime, and non-compliance with unprecedented end-user ROI.
“Increased end-user awareness and ongoing advances in technology are helping shape better products and services. Bus-Tech’s MDL fills a big gap in the storage industry between the tape and open systems worlds.”
Network Products Guide
Performance Throughput: A fully populated MDL with 8 FICON ports boasts over 600 MB/sec. throughput, and multiple MDLs can be coupled to meet even greater performance requirements.
By streamlining an organization’s storage processes through tape-on-disk emulation, Bus-Tech’s MDL delivers significant performance and efficiency gains to a wide range of business operations. MDL allows organizations to drastically reduce their backup window, streamline recovery operations, strengthen data security and ease the task of managing these functions, thereby freeing time for IT personnel to address other responsibilities.
In one noteworthy case, a prominent Philadelphia-based financial institution was able to reduce their backup process from two employees spending 20 hours per week to one employee completing a full backup cycle in only two hours.
Key Features and Benefits: Disaster Recovery – MDL offers a greater level of flexibility to end users with regard to their business continuity and disaster recovery strategies, offering a fast, cost-effective and compliant data recovery solution.
Compliance – IP or HTTP attached disk storage enables enterprises to meet archiving and regulatory storage DR requirements without risk of costly downtime
Encryption – Emulated tape drives support IDRC initiated compression. AES-256 and FIPS 140-2 compliance data encryption can be configured on any set of emulated drives.
High Availability and Scalability – MDL is infinitely scalable and provides enterprise class availability through hot-swappable redundant power supplies, fans and RAID protected disks.
“Bus-Tech has long been an innovator in storage connectivity solutions, helping companies leverage the security, reliability and performance of open systems devices without the cost and risk of total system replacement. The readers of Network Products Guide have reaffirmed this need and with their votes have chosen Bus-Tech as the leader in mainframe disaster recovery and encryption.”
Al Brandt, President - Bus-Tech, Inc.
Unique Capabilities: Tape emulation; IP-based data replication and Clustered SAN support.
Targeted Users: The MDL is most commonly leveraged for mid-to-large enterprise deployments and is infinitely scalable to meet the backup and disaster recovery needs for these organizations.
List Price: Pricing for a single, entry-level MDL controller unit starts at $132,000. Similar capabilities to Bus-Tech’s MDL are offered by competitors as end-to-end solutions at nearly four times its cost. Bus-Tech is able to deliver significant value over these alternatives in that the MDL makes use of existing equipment in the mainframe data center, rather than requiring companies to rip out and replace their existing infrastructure. In addition to the upfront cost difference, MDL can be integrated and deployed with minimal impact on the overall day-to-day operations of the company. Downtime associated with competing systems requires extensive planning and labor, on top of the actual costs of blackout.
Satisfied Customers: U.S. Bank – 1.2 petabytes of disk storage through Bus-Tech’s MDL; Chrysler – 650 terabytes; Philadelphia Stock Exchange; Ohio State University; FedEx and Foot Locker.
Sales Contact for Bus-Tech, Inc. Jim O’Connor
Director, Product Marketing
Bus-Tech, Inc.
Tel: (781) 270-7605
Jim.o’connor@bustech.com
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