Caringo Debuts CAStor 5.5 Object Storage Software Solution

Caringo, the object storage software company, has released CAStor 5.5 — the newest version of its storage platform that can now support up to four terabytes of files.

The original idea behind Caringo’s object storage software solution was to leverage the cloud in order to make a storage system that can scale up to handle massive amounts of data, complete with protection and replication. The solution is comprised of three separate software application layers. In CAStor 5.5, Caringo says it has addressed the large data issue for managed service providers and business end users. Each application layer can now store files through a new chunked encoding capability, and each layer can store files of up to four terabytes in size.

CAStor 5.5 users can also create storage status reports via Net-SNMP — a reporting solution that, according to Caringo, offers the broadest range of integration into the system monitoring tools that its business customers are using today. 5.5 also includes an improved content layer that now includes a watchdog feature. The content router will now automatically restarted an failed or non-responsive services and give IT administrators the ability to create more graphical reports that include store CPU load, network bandwidth utilization and system availability.

We first got word that Caringo was working on CAStor 5.5 back in July 2011. At the time, the company said that MSPs using RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) in their data centers were not protected against very serious data loss threats because the possibility of RAID failure increases as storage volumes grow. The solution, according to Caringo Director of Technical Management Mike Nelson, is replication, even when it comes to large files. And that’s what Caringo is offering with CAStor 5.5.

“With support for large file sizes, detailed reporting and increased automatic serviceability, organizations now have a way to store any amount of unstructured data and get an instant and granular view of the complete Caringo object storage platform whether it is a hundred terabytes or a hundred petabytes,” Caringo CEO Mark Goros said in a prepared statement.

Caringo says its CAStor 5.5 solution makes unstructured data storage more manageable than ever before.

Caringo already has a slew of system integrators and MSPs leverage CAStor through the Caringo Partner Program, and the storage software provider hopes its newest release will only add to the list.