Protection OS is a storage operating system designed specifically for REO Series appliances, offering the flexibility to configure any combination of virtual tape libraries, virtual tape drives and/or disk volumes. Overland says that it has optimised write performance to enable faster back-ups, while the increase in read performance reduces the time required to perform critical copy- or clone-to-tape operations.

Additionally, the embedded software is claimed to boast performance gains for single- and multi-streaming with both iSCSI and Fibre Channel host connectivity. Protection OS is designed to continue to deliver near-instantaneous restores of critical data to speed recovery operations.

Says Anthony Yates, Overland Storage product specialist at distributor Drive Control Corporation (DCC): "The explosive growth of storage capacity continues to cause havoc with ever-shrinking back-up windows and critical recovery objectives - how quickly data must be recovered for the business to survive and how much data the company needs to restore to become effective again - are growing. Version 3.0 will allow resellers that have sold REO Series appliances into their client base to deliver simple yet powerful data protection software that can take the appliances to a new level of flexibility and performance."

In initial testing conducted on the REO 9000, the latest version of Protection OS accelerated backup speeds by up to 60% when compared to the previous version of the software, Yates says. Performance gains were also realised during copy- or clone-to-tape operations, with a single Fibre Channel REO 9000 driving two LTO-3 tape drives concurrently writing in compressed mode at full-rated speed, he adds. More modest performance gains were documented for the REO 4000 and REO 1000, with improvements most evident in single stream backup and clone-to-tape operations, he continues.

Unlike other disk-based back-up systems, only the REO Series utilises Protection OS software to deliver a core set of volume and device virtualisation, management and connectivity features, Yates claims. Protection OS aims to enable REO appliances to be deployed into nearly any existing back-up environment without changes to policies or procedures. An intuitive, browser-based graphical user interface (GUI) is intended to streamline configuration, management and proactive monitoring.