HOW IT WORKS
Unlock. Search. Execute.
Three capabilities that transform the archive from a passive repository into an active source of discovery, insight, and value.
Where cold data
comes to life.
Atlas opens a window into your archive that has never existed before — giving researchers, engineers, and administrators the ability to find, understand, and move their data. It runs natively inside ScoutAM, on the same hardware infrastructure.
THE PROBLEM
The archive is a black box.
THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH
Organizations invest millions building archives to preserve their most valuable data assets – and then effectively lose access to it.
Not because the data isn’t there. It is. But because the archive was not designed to answer the questions that matter most. What is actually in my archive? Where is my data within this collection? How many copies exist? Is my data online or offline? How do I recall my data? What does it cost to keep it here versus there? How do I move it?
In those environments, researchers hunt through namespaces hoping to find what they need. Admins write scripts to answer questions the system should answer itself.
Valuable data is frozen behind a wall of process.
The archive holds valuable data — the people who need it most should be able to see it, search it, and use it.
Researchers
You struggle to find data you produced three years ago, and you can’t tell if your retrieval is running or stuck.
Admins
You field tickets, check stage cues, and answer the same questions about copy counts and data placement over and over.
IT Leadership
You can’t report on archive usage or ROI. Your archive does not support strategic business outcomes or goals.
THE PRODUCT
Atlas turns your archive from a vault into a workspace.
Atlas is a native extension of ScoutAM — Versity’s high-performance archive manager. It gives researchers, data managers, and IT teams a direct, informed relationship with their archived data: real-time visibility, comprehensive metadata search, user-defined tagging, and self-service workflow actions.
All within a unified archive platform.
All native. All included.
01
Unlock rich metadata, harvested automatically as your data is archived.
Because Atlas is native to ScoutAM, rich metadata is collected during the archive process itself —with no filesystem scanning, no separate indexing, and no additional workload. Every file’s status, location, copy count, and cache state is available in real time, to every user who needs it, through a web interface, CLI, or API.
Live status for every archive & retrieval job, updated in real time
Access metadata through a web interface, CLI, or API — whatever fits your workflow
Full file-level detail — copy count, tier location, and cache state, always current
Role-based access controls ensure every user sees exactly what they’re authorized to see
02
Search across billions of files, with the full power of SQL.
Atlas supports both simple keyword search and full SQL queries across your entire data collection — giving your teams the search experience that matches how they work. Define custom metadata schemas and tag files with domain-specific context. Then search, filter, and surface exactly what you need instantly.
Full SQL query support for complex searches across system and domain-specific metadata
Simple keyword search for fast ad-hoc discovery
User-defined tags and custom metadata schemas
Open-format metadata preserved alongside archived data for FAIR alignment
03
Execute confidently — every action visible, every file tracked, all within the ScoutAM data management platform.
Every file you find in Atlas is immediately actionable. Stage, batch stage, copy, move, or archive directly from your search results — and watch it happen in real time. No context switching, no external tools, no waiting in the dark. Atlas shows you exactly where your data is, what’s in motion, and what jobs are complete, all from within a single, fully integrated platform.
Self-service stage and batch stage from search results
Tag-based archiving actions and automated lifecycle rules
Native in-band execution through ScoutAM — no external products needed
Role-based permissions and administrative controls
WHY ATLAS WORKS
The metadata lives in the filesystem.
That changes everything.
Atlas is built into ScoutAM, which stores file metadata natively within the open-source ScoutFS filesystem itself. Metadata and file data share a single source of truth — no external database, no second platform to deploy, no synchronization required. What used to require two products now requires one.
SEPARATE: OUT OF BAND
Scan from outside. Sync forever. Multiple Products.
UNIFIED: ATLAS
The filesystem is the source of truth. One product.
01
No external database
With Atlas, there’s no sync lag. No second server stack to provision, maintain, and upgrade. The archive is the record.
02
Seconds, not hours
Rename & move operations that take hours against a row-based database complete in seconds in ScoutAM.
03
Open, native formats
Your data stays readable even without Versity software. It’s portable, FAIR-aligned, and future-proof by design.
WHO IT’S FOR
For every mission, discovery, and deadline that depends on getting to the right data fast.
Researchers and data managers
Find your data on your own schedule. Tag it in the language of your work. Retrieve it yourself. See exactly where it lives and what state it’s in — then act with confidence.
WHAT YOU GET
- Search using custom tags that reflect how your team organizes & describes its data
- Act on what you find — stage, move, or copy data directly from search results
- Real-time status & observability across every archive transaction
HPC and storage administrators
Replace fragile scripts & ticket queues with policy-driven automation. See in real time every archive job, every copy, every tier. Give researchers the self-service access they need, within the guardrails you define.
WHAT YOU GET
- Real-time operational visibility across jobs, placement, & copy state
- Role-based permissions that are explicit, auditable, and easy to manage
- Policy-driven archive workflows, fully native to ScoutAM
IT leadership and procurement
Atlas delivers metadata intelligence, search, tagging, and user self-service natively within the archive platform. One platform, one vendor, one contract — everything included.
WHAT YOU GET
- Cost analytics reporting you can bring to a budget review
- Bundled with ScoutAM – no additional infrastructure or vendors
- Open formats that eliminate long-term vendor lock-in risk
HOW IT COMPARES
The difference is architectural.
Most HPC metadata tools fall into one of two patterns. Out-of-band scanners sit alongside the storage system, maintain their own external databases, and require continuous synchronization. All-in-one platforms encapsulate your data in proprietary formats and demand full ecosystem buy-in. Both approaches introduce infrastructure, cost, and risk that Atlas was specifically designed to eliminate.
| Capability | Versity Atlas | External-DB Scanners | All-in-one Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native to the archive platform | Yes | – No | – No |
| No separate database infrastructure | Yes | – No | – No |
| Data stays in open, native formats | Yes | Yes | – No |
| Fast rename and move at scale | Yes | – No | – No |
| Bundled with a full-featured archiving platform | Yes | – No | – No |
| Live visibility into archive activity | Yes | – No | – No |
PROOF
Built by archiving experts.Proven at the world’s most demanding sites.
Versity powers AI, HPC, and enterprise workflows at the world’s most demanding research sites.
4+
UNDER MANAGEMENT
100+
CUSTOMER SITES
Versity ScoutAM manages more than four exabytes of data across over one hundred sites globally, including national laboratories, leading research universities, government agencies, and major media and entertainment studios. Atlas is built into that platform — not layered on top of it.
GET STARTED
The archive has always been where the most valuable data lives.
Atlas puts it to work.
See Atlas in action on a live ScoutAM deployment. A Versity engineer will walk you through the product.