What is EMC Centera?

Dell EMC Centera is an archiving system that uses objects as storage elements with the application or the Centera Universal Access server storing the objects using an Ethernet interface. Dell EMC Centera introduced a new protocol for transferring data and identifying the objects being stored: Content Addressable Storage or CAS. In CAS, a hash code across the data object produces a unique output code called a digital fingerprint or object ID. The Dell EMC Centera uses the hash code as the identifier for storing the information and returns this identifier as the Content Address to the application that stored the object. Future access to the object must be based on that Content Address.

The object interface that Centera uses is a unique API over a standard Ethernet connection. A large number of Independent Software Vendors (ISV’s) have modified their applications (or created another version) to communicate with Centera over the interface. For customers that want to use existing (unchanged) applications or applications that have not coded to the Centera API, a Centera Universal Access (CUA) system can be purchased to allow access over standard remote file protocols.