XenData has launched an on-prem gateway appliance for moving Windows SMB media files to and from public cloud object storage.
XenData provides storage products, such as on-prem X-Series tape archives and Media Portal viewers for the media and entertainment industry and allied customers. The Z20 Cloud Media Appliance is a Windows 11 Pro x86 box that hooks up to a local SMB network and can move files to object storage in the cloud, utilizing both online and archive tiers.
CEO Dr Phil Storey stated: “The Z20 makes it easy for users to store media files in the cloud and it is especially useful when content is stored on the lower-cost Glacier and Azure Archive tiers. It allows users to check that they are rehydrating the correct media files before incurring rehydration and egress fees. Furthermore, it provides users with a self-service to easily restore individual files without the need to bother IT support staff.”
The system has a multi-tenant, web-based UI. It’s compliant with Microsoft’s security model and can be added to an existing Domain or Workgroup. Remote users are supported using HTTPS when a SSL security certificate is added. Physically, the device is a 1 RU rack-mount appliance with 4 x 1 GbE network ports and options for additional 10 and 25 GbE connectivity.
XenData previously released Cloud File Gateway software, running on Windows 10 Pro and Windows Server, to enable file-based apps to use cloud object storage such as AWS S3, Azure Blob, and Wasabi S3 as an archive facility. In effect, it has updated this software to support deep cloud archives, such as AWS Deep Glacier or Azure’s Archive Tier, and added in Media Asset Viewer functionality to provide users with a self-serve capability.
By using the web-based UI, they can display media file previews and change the storage tier for a selected file, rehydrating a file from a deep archive, and then downloading it, for example.
The Z20 is available from XenData Authorized Partners worldwide and is priced at $9,880 in the US.
