Oracle’s VSM7 hybrid cloud solution for mainframe backup offers low-access storage with services and an interface designed specifically for the needs of mainframes running large transaction processing workloads. And for one-tenth of a cent per gigabyte, it’s an order of magnitude cheaper than onsite storage or Amazon’s S3 cloud service.

The cloud has long promised low-cost cold storage for data backup and archiving, writes Wikibon CTO David Floyer in “Oracle Announces Hybrid Cloud for Mainframe Backup”.  However, most cloud backup services still don’t meet the specific needs of large-scale transactional mainframe environments in areas like security, recovery point and recovery time requirements. The VSM7 solution promises to fill those needs.

Floyer discusses specific features and strategies for moving large amounts of data to the cloud and, in a disaster recovery situation, recovering in as quickly as possible. Overall, he concludes that Oracle’s new service does appear to meet the needs of mainframe backup as well as or better than traditional strategies, and at a small fraction of the cost.

The VSM7 is not the only service specifically designed for the mainframe market. Floyer provides brief looks at Avere Systems Inc.’s cloud-enabled NAS solution, Nasuni Corp.’s  similar product and EMC’s Cloud Array (formerly Twin Strata). He sees all of these as better solutions than virtual tape systems and at very attractive prices. Floyer recommends that mainframe executives include cloud for low-cost backup and archiving storage in RFPs and that they specifically include Oracle VSM7 as a bidder.

Photo of Oracle co-CEO Safra A. Catz via Wikipedia