Parsec Labs
Data Migration Simplified

 
Typically, when an organization targets a data migration project, it is often put on hold due to the high costs, risks, and inflexibility involved in moving data. In fact, there have been instances where organizations have paid millions of dollars for data migration projects. The problem increases when the data has to be migrated between different brands and types of storage, such as moving data from NetApp to EMC or from file to object storage. Bringing in experts or professional services for help can again cost a fortune for organizations. Addressing all of these concerns, Parsec Labs offers its storage portability platform for data migration between block, file, and object storage, irrespective of brands and types of storage devices. It also works across different types of data, like structured and unstructured. By focusing on appliance-based rather than capacity-based migration, Parsec Labs offers the first and only universal data replication and migration platform that delivers vendor-neutral data portability across platforms taking out risks, vendor lock-in, and enormous costs of data migration for IT organizations. "Being vendor-neutral, we offer our customers the capability to store their data when and where they want, irrespective of the vendor or storage type with huge cost savings,” explains Anthony Foley, CEO of Parsec Labs.

Foley throws light on the latest trends on how organizations started shifting from direct- attached storage (DAS) to storage area network (SAN) for enhanced availability as well as distribution of data between multiple hosts. This shift is now fuelled by a new form of SANs called NVMe over fabric that promise latencies as low as two milliseconds to even nanoseconds in the latest versions compared to traditional microsecond latencies. This is a drastic transformation for organizations, as they no longer have orphaned storage and discrete servers anymore. However, the legacy SAN is built 99 percent on fiber channel, often leading to the question—How to get from fiber channel to NVMe over fabric? Addressing this question, Parsec Labs helps interconnect fiber channel with a new generation of storage devices that use NVMe over fabric.

File, Block, and Object Storage Covered

In the case of file systems, Parsec Labs scans and fingerprints from data using cryptohashing after which the data is copied to a new location. The appliance then reads it and compares it with the hash to ensure everything is transferred.

Being vendorneutral, we offer our customers the capability to store their data when and where they want, irrespective of the vendor or storage type with huge cost savings

For block storage, Parsec Labs offers two ways of data migration. The first one provides a validated hash compared copy of data from one system to another. An alternative method is that of treating the system as a native block device by reading the logical block addresses from zero to the end and then moving the data in parallel systems. For both the file and block storage, the company’s core platform offers the ability of replication. “We help clients get every bit of value out of their current stores by providing the required protocols and transfer mechanisms within our product,” says Stephen Anderson, Marketing Director of the company.

The third component that Parsec Labs will cater to is object storage. With the rapid growth of data, the need for repositories and storage devices is increasing at an Exabyte scale. But at enterprise levels, it is extremely difficult to predict the amount of storage required to move to the cloud while managing the ingress and egress of data. Especially as enterprises deploy thousands of applications, it is difficult to predict the amount of space required to store all application date. A member of the advisory council, set up by Parsec Labs that guides in building their product in line with the customer requirements and expectations, pointed to the company about this predicament while moving to cloud. The member was misguided the amount of storage requirements by the provider leading to an unexpected expense that was in millions of dollars. The member of the advisory council sought help from Parsec Labs to leverage their existing storage in a test development environment while taking advantage of the Amazon S3 interface to test before and after deploying to the cloud. By providing this functionality, Parsec Labs allows clients to take advantage of object storage like S3 while saving millions of dollars. Soon, the company will build more functionality to assist clients to migrate their data between clouds as well. The company works with numerous brands, including Dell EMC, NetApp, HPE, Pure Storage, Kaminario, Nimble Storage, and Pavilion Data.

The company's product is built by storage experts who have leveraged their knowledge and rich experience to build a product that caters to the needs for a vendor-neutral data migration solution.

In an effort to design a solution to reduce the cost of data migration, senior engineers led by Mark Clark, CTO of Parsec Labs, developed the company’s flagship product, which does not require the client to buy any additional hardware. He also explains that the hardware is built to solve the numerous challenges prevailing in the market currently. “The uniqueness of our product lies in the fact that it can effectively address customer’s problems unlike other products in the market that merely offer a fancy interface,” says Foley. To ensure this, Parsec Labs has set up a customer advisory council comprising companies from a wide array of verticals including banking, telecommunication, and more. "It is through this advisory council that we are able to build a customer-driven solution across file, block, and soon object storage including cloud, on-premise, and hybrid," adds Clark.

Ensuring Secure Data Migration and Replications

Foley explains that Parsec Labs’ appliance includes sixteen ports of 10 gbit Ethernet and sixteen ports of 16 gb fiber channel to interconnect the most complex environments. “We ensure clients securely replicate and migrate data on demand with a single tool for all structured and unstructured data while reducing the time and costs of migration projects,” says Foley.

“Security is critical,” says Clark, referring to the security feature of the company. Parsec Labs’ storage portability platform offers encryption and utilizes multi-factor authentication. The company has written its own transport protocol for enhanced speed security. Parsec Labs enables data migration services to global organizations of all major sectors. “It is not just about GDPR in Europe; soon similar regulations will be enforced in other major countries, and we are prepared,” says Clark pointing that Parsec Labs’ data migration solution is compliance friendly.

"We ensure clients securely migrate data on demand with a single tool for all structured as well as unstructured data while reducing the time and costs of migration projects"

Foley, who is an accomplished and proven leader with a history of developing, growing and sustaining businesses in the hi-tech arena, heads Parsec Labs. Boasting of a consistent track record of achieving aggressive business objectives and impacting change and growth, Foley holds strong leadership skills that contribute to great people management results and active participation with many of the largest, most strategic clients. He is backed by the efforts of the CTO, Clark, who has worked at a number of storage companies over the years—from small startups to large enterprises in both the private and public sectors. Continuing on its path of ‘easy and cost-effective data migration,' Parsec Labs will work with its advisory council to study market pain points to update its product regularly. This way, the company will continue on its promise of pain-free data migration at reduced costs.