For MSPs using RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) within data centers, Caringo offers the the following warning: RAID technologies may not protect against very serious data loss. Caringo claims that the growth of fixed content and hard disk drive (HDD) capacity had turned RAID into “a problem waiting to happen in your data center.” Predictably, Caringo is ready to pitch channel partners an alternative solution.

“As drives get bigger, and RAID gets bigger, the risk of failure of the drive goes up,” asserts Mike Nelson, Caringo’s director of technical management. Nelson claims the solution to the RAID problem is replication, which is what Caringo offers in its optic storage cloud solution called CAstor.

Caringo is about to launch CAstor 5.5. “It [CAstor] stores multiple copies of content, monitors the health of that content and stores multiple copies of a company’s data in multiple sub-clusters,” Nelson said. “It has no file system so it’s infinitely scalable. If you want to add to the CAstor system, just add more nodes and more drives. You don’t need a backup solution when you use CAstor because your data is being moved and replicated in different data centers.”

In a related white paper, Caringo detailed CAstor vs. RAID tests across five different criteria: Data Loss Risks, I/O Performance, Costs to Upgrade, Rebuild Effectiveness and Efficient Utilization of Capacity. Caringo says that CAstor outperformed RAID in each of these categories. Of course: Many white papers are designed to present a specific vendor’s view, so be sure to conduct your own independent research.

True believers include Synergent, a credit union products and services provider in the Northeaster United States. Synergent in late June 2011 selected Caringo’s CAstor to protect the hundreds of millions of check images and transaction receipts that Synergent manages for its credit union members.

Caringo has a partner program that includes a number of integrators and resellers.