The data reduction features that Permabit touts include technology the supplier calls Scalable Data Reduction (SDR), which comprises subfile segmentation, compression, and in-line de-duplication using an algorithm based on SHA-256 hashing approved for U.S. government use. SDR has been a feature of Permabit systems previously.
Permabit also boasts a data protection function called RAIN-EC, which Permabit says exceeds RAID-6 redundancy for failed components. And Permabit has added more horsepower to its I/O and claims to reach hundreds of Mbit/s in throughput by adding 15-Mbytes/s access modules incrementally to match customer requirements.
Permabit faces a multitude of disk-based archiving competitors, also eager to market their wares to the enterprise space. Among these are Data Domain, EMC with Centera, HDS with HCAP, HP with RISS, and NEC with Hydrastor.
All of these vendors make claims similar to Permabit's. EMC's Centera, for instance, supports up to 380 Tbytes of raw storage when four cabinets are clustered, though EMC also insists that multiple clusters can provide Pbytes of capacity. Centera is priced from about $77,000.
At least one analyst says Permabit has some features that distinguish it from the crowd. "Permabit is going after the very high end of the archiving market (specifically those needing 100 Tbytes)," writes IDC analyst Benjamin Woo in an email today. The use of a grid architecture with data distribution and protection technology are aimed at overcoming performance problems encountered by high-capacity disk arrays, he notes. These features are shared most closely by NEC's Hydrastor, in his view.
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