GRAU DATA: Automated Data Life Cycle Management
GRAU DATA: Automated Data Life Cycle Management
30.09.2026
Together with Arcitecta and COMBACK, GRAU DATA demonstrates how automated data life cycle management enables efficient data management and long-term archiving.
Integrated data and metadata management with long-term archiving for active and unstructured data in AI and high-performance computing (HPC) environments.
Background
Modern HPC, research, and AI environments generate enormous volumes of unstructured data across performance storage and archival storage tiers. As data volumes continue to grow, many organizations face several key infrastructure challenges:
- Rising infrastructure costs: Retaining large volumes of inactive data on high-performance storage (flash, etc.) for extended periods increases operating and capital expenditure.
- Fragmented data: Flash and object storage, cloud platforms, and archive systems are distributed and operated in silos, with limited visibility across different storage tiers.
- Complex long-term archiving: Organizations need durable archival infrastructure that can retain data cost-effectively for decades while ensuring accessibility and discoverability.
- Green IT and sustainability: In the age of AI, data centers face increasing pressure to reduce energy consumption, space requirements, and long-term environmental impact.
To address these challenges, ARCITECTA, GRAU DATA, and COMBACK offer an integrated architecture that combines intelligent data orchestration, metadata-driven archiving, and enterprise tape infrastructure into a unified data life cycle platform. According to the developers, the joint solution offers the following capabilities (Source: vendor solution brief):
- Managing large datasets across active and archival environments
- Maintaining visibility and accessibility throughout the entire data life cycle
- Automating policy-driven data movement and retention
- Reducing long-term storage costs and energy consumption
- Scaling sustainable archival infrastructure for petabyte- and exabyte-scale environments
The platform connects high-performance workflows with durable long-term archiving, addressing increasingly important requirements such as operational visibility, governance, and control. The individual solution components include:
1. Arcitecta Mediaflux
Intelligent data orchestration and global data management.
At the core of the solution is Arcitecta's Mediaflux® platform. The software provides:
- Global namespace management with Mediaflux Multi-Site
- Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM)
- Workflow orchestration and automation
- Metadata management
- Storage virtualization across heterogeneous infrastructures
- Policy-driven data movement
- API-driven integration
Mediaflux can establish a unified data structure spanning high-performance storage, object storage, cloud platforms, and tape archives. This enables consistent data management across multiple storage environments while supporting accessibility and governance.
2. GRAU DATA MetadataHub
Enhancing the architecture with metadata intelligence and scalable archive integration.
The GRAU DATA solution provides:
- Metadata intelligence and scalable S3-to-tape archiving
- MetadataHub extracts and indexes metadata from complex file formats and enables
- Advanced search and discovery
- Metadata transparency
- Faster data analysis and classification
- Improved governance and compliance
- Deeper operational insights into unstructured datasets
Combined with Mediaflux, MetadataHub can improve visibility and discoverability across both active and archived data.
3. COMBACK ORION Tape Libraries
Modern high-performance computing requires archival infrastructure that can scale sustainably over decades, not just years. COMBACK's ORION (LTO) tape libraries provide the physical infrastructure for long-term data retention. BDT ORION systems are designed for:
- Large-scale archival environments
- High storage density
- Modular scalability
- Operational reliability
- Cost-efficient long-term retention
- Low energy consumption
- Long media lifespan
- Cyber resilience
- Cost-effectiveness
The platform supports scalable enterprise archive deployments for organizations managing data at petabyte and exabyte scale. By integrating modern metadata management and S3-based archival workflows with enterprise tape infrastructure, the solution can deliver sustainable archival architectures without compromising accessibility or operational efficiency, according to the developers.
Customer Example: TU Dresden
The integrated solution from Arcitecta and GRAU DATA was selected by TU Dresden (Dresden University of Technology) to optimize its large-scale tape archive while ensuring visibility and access to archived research data. The research and educational institution was looking for a solution that would meet its specific data and metadata management requirements.
In addition, the university needed software that could control its existing tape drives in conjunction with Mediaflux and provide Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM) capabilities alongside traditional archiving and backup.
By combining Mediaflux and XtreemStore, the university benefits, according to available information, from scalable archival infrastructure, metadata-rich discoverability, and optimized workflows for long-term data retention.
About GRAU DATA
GRAU DATA is the specialist for data archiving, data protection, and metadata mining. GRAU DATA is a medium-sized company based in Schwäbisch Gmünd near Stuttgart. A strong development team ensures innovative software solutions. GRAU DATA sells its products indirectly through distribution partners such as system houses, integrators, and hardware suppliers in Germany, Europe, and the USA.
Company contact:
GRAU DATA GmbH
Alessandra Nicoletti
73529 Schwäbisch Gmünd
alessandra.nicoletti@graudata.com
www.graudata.com
Press contact:
TC Communications
Thilo Christ
+49 8081 9546-17
thilo.christ@tc-communications.de
www.tc-communications.de
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