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NexSAN Assureon Assureon System
Interfacing to
Assureon
Assureon
Edge for Centralizing Data
Assureon - Healthcare
NexSAN's Assureon
has been designed to to address the
long term storage and management of fixed content and compliance
information.

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Can you guarantee a file. . .
has not been tampered with?
is safe from prying eyes?
is not corrupted over time?
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Overview:
- Compliant-level privacy, integrity and longevity
- Self-auditing, self-healing file management technology
- Enterprise class manageability, scalability and energy efficiency
- Affordable: enterprise class archive to meet your needs at a price to
meet your budget
Privacy – Integrity – Longevity
Most storage systems provide you "hope" - hope about your data privacy,
integrity and longevity. But there is some data that demands guarantees.
Can you guarantee a file. . .
has not been tampered with?
is safe from prying eyes?
is not corrupted over time?
Enterprise storage provides some protection with RAID and replication but
it cannot guarantee the privacy, integrity or longevity of your data. Files
can still be secretly read, modified, stolen, deleted and corrupted.

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What you need is a storage system that is as secure as a safe deposit box and
as easy to access as your wallet. NexSAN’s Assureon online disk storage archive
provides the privacy, integrity and longevity of a digital safe deposit box with
the high speed access of disk drive technology.
Assureon assures Privacy
Assureon ensures the privacy of data with innovative security features
Data Separation and Security
Every user or department can have their files in their own virtual safe
deposit box. Within Assureon, your data is logically and physically separate
from the rest of the data ensuring privacy and security.
Access Audit Trail
Assureon establishes an unalterable audit trail for the life of an archived
file. Every time a file is accessed, a record is kept of who accessed it and
when it was accessed.
Assureon assures Integrity
Fingerprint & Integrity
When data is archived, it is assigned its own unique fingerprint that stays
with the file through its life cycle. If a single byte ever changes, the
fingerprint will change. Revolutionary safeguards have been put into place to
ensure that a file will retain its exact fingerprint through its life cycle.
Self-Auditing and Self-Healing
Assureon continually monitors files for fingerprint discrepancies protecting
against tampering, viruses, corruption, accidental or deliberate deletion and
theft. If discrepancies are discovered, Assureon notifies you and
automatically self-heals the file.
Assureon assures Longevity
Assureon ensures the longevity of data with industry-leading file
immutability technology
File Availability Audit
Assureon continual checks to ensure all files are present. If a file is
missing, Assureon notifies you and automatically returns the file to its
original state.
Automated Retention and Deletion
In a new world of regulatory compliance, you need to guarantee the retention
and deletion of files. With automated integrity management and file
immutability technology, Assureon protects against accidental or unauthorized
file deletion and ensures you can retain files for compliant or flexible time
periods as well as delete them when their retention period is over.

More Secure
- File Fingerprinting
Using advanced CAS (Content Addressable Storage) technology, Assureon protects
the integrity of your data with innovative digital fingerprint technology.
With Assureon’s original technology, a unique digital fingerprint is generated
for each file using concatenated SHA1 and MD5 cryptographic algorithms. This
next-generation approach provides the benefits of integrity while eliminating
file collisions that can result in data loss in competitive products.
Assureon’s fingerprint feature ensures the data you put on storage is the data
you get back regardless of time
- Physical Separation of Data
Individual applications, departments, organizations or businesses can share a
single Assureon but have their own secure archive with dedicated storage to
ensure physical data separation and privacy
- Self Auditing and Self Healing
Assureon transparently checks the integrity of all stored files and
automatically self-heals if any discrepancies are discovered
- File Audit Trail
Assureon tracks all users and applications that access each file providing
administrators with an unalterable audit trail of information access
- File Availability Audit (Serialization)
Each file is given a unique inventory serial number. Assureon continually
takes inventory of all stored files ensuring all files are present. Any
missing files will be automatically replaced using a redundant copy
- WORM Storage
WORM (write once read many) ensures retention periods are enforced and
provides file immutability. Once a file is archived, it cannot be changed and
is protected against accidental or deliberate deletion, tampering, false file
insertion and date or time altering
- Encryption
Assureon protects information privacy and security with AES256 encryption -
the encryption level authorized by the US Government for Top Secret Classified
Information. Assureon encryption services ensures the highest levels of file
privacy and security
- Secure File Deletion
Use compliant-level file deletion with encrypted and non-encrypted files.
Optional 7-pass DOD wipe can be enabled for DOD data deletion
- File Versioning
File versioning can retain only the last few versions of a file and
automatically disposes older versions. The number of versions to be retained
is fully configurable from 1 to all versions
- Independent Date and Time Stamp
As part of the encryption key service, Assureon’s independent time source
prevents modifications to the system’s time clock ensuring the integrity of
retention periods. With Assureon there is no tampering to the system clock or
the date stamp on the file itself
- Redundant Architecture
Assureon is designed as a fully redundant, high availability system providing
no single point of failure. This fault tolerant architecture ensures the
highest levels of business continuity and continuous data availability
- High Availability Storage
Supporting the innovative Assureon appliance is Nexsan’s highly reliable,
green storage. The SATABeast, SASBoy and SATABoy provide redundant
controllers, power supplies and fans along with support for RAID 6 to overcome
double drive failures
- High Density Storage
Optimize datacenter space while reducing power and cooling costs with Assureon
high density architecture. Assureon storage systems deliver 42TB of capacity
for every 4U of rack space providing users with one of the most space
efficient solutions available
More Manageable
- Compliant or Flexible Retention Periods
Use compliant-level retention periods to ensure data cannot be deleted before
the end of the retention period. Use flexible retention periods for files that
do not require regulatory compliance. Users can select retention types for
each type of data being archived
Legal Holds
Legal holds can be placed on files to protect against file deletion when its
retention period has expired. This ensures availability of files in cases of
litigation or potential litigation
De-duplication
With CAS technology, store only a single instance of duplicate files
maximizing storage efficiency. Meta data and retention policies will still be
preserved for each instance
Active/Active Replication
Assureon has taken data replication to a whole new level with its digital
fingerprint technology. Assureon combines active/active replication and
automated failover/failback with innovative fingerprint technology to enable
business continuity with data integrity
Assureon FSW (File System Watcher) Client
Configure host archive policies with Assureon FSW Client. Policies can be
configured for different file folder locations and data categories including
when to archive a file, retention periods and what is left behind (original
file, shortcut, or nothing)
Assureon Edge
Extend Assureon archive service to include multiple remote offices, branches,
facilities and even other businesses. See the Assureon Edge data sheet for
more details
Assureon NFS and CIFS Interface
Assureon Edge can provide a CIFS and NFS interface. Files written to these
Assureon shares can be automatically archived to Assureon based on
pre-described configurable policies
Application Support
Assureon has been integrated with leading applications to provide a complete
and secure disk archiving solution. These include: email archive, PACS,
document management (ECM), financial reports (ERM/COLD), imaging and other
applications
Storage-as-a-Service
Assureon is an ideal platform for outsource management of archiving services.
See the Assureon for Storage Service Providers for more details
AutoMAID™ Energy Saving Technology:
Nexsan's evolutionary AutoMAID (Automatic Massive Array of Idle Disks) energy
saving technology transparently places disk drives into an idle state to vastly
reduce power and cooling costs. AutoMAID delivers the cost-effecdtive benefits
of MAID 2.0 without the limitations of slow access times and special host
software.
AutoMAID is granular to an individual drive or RAID set and offers multiple
levels of energy savings. AutoMAID is user selectable enabling users to
determine the right level of response time performance to energy savings.
AutoMAID is the first MAID 2.0 architecture that supports VTL, full file format
D2D and standard high performance RAID implementations.
Key Points
- AutoMAID reduces power and cooling costs
- Nexsan’s AutoMAID delivers the benefits of MAID without the limitations
- Available on Nexsan Assureon, SATABoy, SATABeast, and SATABeast Xi
AutoMAID Defined
- AutoMAID automatically reduces power consumption and heat generation on
idle drives
- Trade-off between response times and power savings are user configurable
- AutoMAID behavior happens automatically and transparently to host – no
software changes required
- Typical configuration settings:
- Level 1: Heads Unloaded
- 15% to 20% savings
- Sub-second recovery time
- Level 2: Heads Unloaded, slows to 4000 RPM
- 35% to 45% savings
- 15 second recovery time
- Level 3: Stops spinning (sleep mode; powered on)
- 60% to 70% savings
- 30 to 45 second recovery time
AutoMAID Safety Features
- In maximum power saving mode, drive spin up is sequenced to reduce power
surges
- Drives automatically wake up for periodic surface scan to ensure data
integrity (user configurable)
- AutoMAID has no impact on performance if left on in data-intensive server
applications
- Only two simple configuration settings – "timeout" and "power savings
desired"
Competitive Edge:
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Assureon is known for its next generation security measure, but there is
much more to Assureon. When you look 'under the hood,' Assureon reveals a
full suite of features. Finding the most secure archive available is not
enough. You also need a system package in a simple, fully integrated
solution that offers enterprise class manageability, scalability and energy
efficiency...at a price to meet your budget.
This si where you discover how Nexsan is changing the rules of storage -
by delivering an enterprise class archive to meet your needs at a price to
meet your budget, Along with innovative security features, how does the rest
Assureon stack up?
Manageable
Simple to understand, simple to install, simple to use
- Automated audits of file availability, integrity and access
- Automated file fingerprinting
- Automated 'lights out' management
- Automated file ingestion, retrieval, audits, de-duplication and
replication without user intervention
- Quick and easy search of files based on file properties or content
with near instantaneous retieval
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Scalable
Scale without penalty
- No object limit; scale without performance penalty
- Scale performance and capacity independently
- Scale performance to thousands of files per second
- Scale from a few terabytes to multiple petabytes
Green
All the benefits of green without the limitations
- Energy saving AutoMAID reduces energy cost up to 60%
- Speed with green - near instantaneous response from idle state
- Green Maximizer automatically migrates files to 'green, greener, greenest'
states of energy savings based on file usage
Technology:
Assureon is based upon a combination of CAS (Content Addressable Storage)
with advanced 256-bit AES encryption and other security and data protection
technologies. CAS technology produces a unique file identifier or "fingerprint"
for all objects, based on their content. Assureon's object storage model stores
files, images, recordings, web pages, etc, as objects with a unique universal
identifier. This approach differs from traditional file system models, where an
application or user names the file and then places it in a hierarchical file
system. Traditional file system models suffer from a lack of scalability and a
high management cost.
In an object model, the archived physical object is completely separate from
the logical location or application. Administrators can be relieved of
performing typical storage housekeeping tasks, such as formatting file systems,
creating volumes and binding LUNs (logical unit numbers).
Assureon's CAS technology provides:
Immutability - because
each file fingerprint is based on the specific bit pattern of that file, if a
bit is changed then the file fingerprint would be different. Assureon does not
allow changes and will detect if any tampering has occurred.
Single-instance storage - one
copy of each file is stored, regardless of how many users write that file to
storage, giving significant storage-use efficiency.
Scalability - Additional
storage can easily be added
Reduces Storage Management Cost - Storage
housekeeping tasks, such as formatting file systems, creating volumes and
binding LUNs are not necessary
Load Balancing - Enables
a uniform distribution of files across available storage locations. Assureon's
load balancing enhances performance and enables storage to scale into the
petabytes
Assureon uses a dual cryptographic process (MD5 and SHA-1 hashing algorithms)
to create its unique file identifier (UFID). The dual cryptographic process
offers fail safe security against the occurrence of a collision.
Encryption with patent-pending secure encryption key management
Encryption a powerful tool to ensure privacy and protect against data theft.
Assureon implements encryption on a file by file basis using the AES256
encryption standard. Each file has its own unique key, which is transparently
and automatically handled by Assureon's secure "key manager."
Secure Key Management: The management of encryption keys is critical to data
protection. Key management needs to be secure from attack and also from
inadvertent corruption by insiders or physical theft of the hardware that
contains the keys. Assureon's advanced, automated encryption key management
system has a unique quadruple backup process safeguarding the keys against
disaster. Assureon provides support for multiple offsite repositories of keys,
which are themselves encrypted, as well as active deposits of file manifest
information at secure locations or with a neutral third party.
Scalability - Assureon's performance and capacity scale independently
Assureon's architecture is not a "pizza box or brick" design whereby a
certain number of server nodes need to be configured based upon the amount of
storage and the two are locked together - if you want to scale capacity you must
also scale performance. Assureon is flexible. Storage capacity can be vastly
increased if needed and more server nodes can be added to the configuration for
faster performance independent of each other. This allows the customer to
purchase exactly what they need for their environment and, in the case of a
large archive, reduces the cost per terabyte dramatically.
Media Independence
In addition to disk, Assureon supports offline media such as tape and
optical. By combining CAS single instance store technology with secure
encryption on removable media, Assureon reduces costs and prevents any
unauthorized access to stored data including security breaches, attacks and lost
or stolen media.
Security:
Compliance and Best Practices require Better Security
Information and storage security are very important topics - privacy and data
theft are at the forefront of today's customer concerns. In addition,
many regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, Privacy Acts, and HIPAA, spell out
specific requirements for secure information access and data storage.
Assureon offers powerful answers to these important requirements through
the integrated technologies it is built upon - security, file disposition,
the individual destruction of offline files, WORM protection and file
authentication.
Encryption
Assureon can encrypt any file, using the Advanced Encryption Standard
(AES256). There have been no successful attacks against AES, and it has been
approved by the National Security Agency (NSA) for top secret documents.
Multiple Privacy Acts, HIPAA, California 's SB 1386 and the FDA's CFR part 11
recommend or require encryption of information for security purposes.
When Assureon encryption is enabled, files cannot be viewed even if a hacker
manages to compromise security.
Secure Accessibility
Assureon's Access Control has three components.
- Authentication verifies that a client is who they say they are
- Assureon optionally uses security certificates (Smart Cards)
- Authorization determines that the client has the appropriate permissions
to access the resources they are requesting. Authorization is given to an
authenticated client by policies established within Assureon and then
published into Active Directory.
- Audit logs that can be used to account for any and all access to managed
information.
Assured Individual Key Destruction
At the end of an information asset's retention period, Assureon destroys the
file's encryption key and all access to that file. Assureon is unique in its
key management capabilities in that it can identify and dispose of individual
files - not only on its integrated disk storage, but also on offline media such
as tape or optical.
Authentication of Information
When a file is placed under Assureon management, it is processed by dual
cryptographic hash functions (MD5 and SHA-1) to create a unique identifier
sometimes called hash value, digital fingerprint, CAS (Content Addressable
Storage) address or UFID. This unique identifier allows the system to verify
that the file has not been altered or inadvertently corrupted.
When a file is authenticated, Assureon retrieves the file, creates a
cryptographic hash value for the document, and then compares it to the original
cryptographic hash value that was generated when the file was placed under
management. If any changes were made to the document, even down to the bit
level, the hash values will not be the same and the file is not authenticated;
if the hash values are identical, the file is authenticated as an original. This
process ensures the authenticity and integrity of all files stored by the
Assureon system.
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Archive Optimization |
Cardiology archive |
CAS |
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data archive |
CT Scan archive |
Content Addressed Storage |
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disk archive |
hospital storage |
Compliance
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Email Archive |
HIMS archive |
secure archive |
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Encryption |
medical imagery archive |
Regulatory storage |
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File System Archiving |
medical storage |
Records Retention |
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Object Oriented Storage |
MRI archive |
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Long Term Storage |
pacs |
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Object Storage |
pacs imagery archive |
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online archive |
Patient records archive |
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tape archive |
radiology |
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storage archive |
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Single Instance Storage |
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picture archiving and communication
systems |
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Data De-Duplication
Defined
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