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IBM ProtecTIER - Plotting Strategy for the Data Deduplication Wars: Page 2 of 3

With this latest announcement, IBM joins the crowd providing electronic vaulting capabilities with what it calls the ProtecTIER Native Replication solution. This is a functional enhancement that creates an IP-based connection between ProtecTIER servers/clusters (as obviously ProtecTIER has to be at both the local and the DR site). All new IBM gateways and appliances will have this feature, but existing products will require a software upgrade, as well a second NIC card, to make them "replication ready." Native replication is an optional feature and must be purchased and licensed before use.

IBM offers a lot of capabilities in ProtecTIER around enabling the DR to become a primary site during a disaster so the solution is a lot more than just electronic vaulting. Included are a number of policy-based capabilities, such as managing and monitoring operations during a disaster (i.e, fail-over and fall-back).

In addition, frequent testing of DR plans is now feasible (since it is easier to test with ProtecTIER managed disk at both the local and remote site than test with tape alone). This may not seem like a big deal but it really is. The lack of DR testing due to cost or complexity exposes many an organization to a significant risk when they were under the delusion that they were adequately protected.

Mesabi Musings

An old clich?? holds that a rising tide lifts all boats and the data deduplication boats are all certainly on the rise. That is a good thing for vendors who are starved to have a story that can get budget-conscious customers to loosen their purse strings, but it is also a good thing for IT organizations that are under the gun to do a better job despite tight budgets.