ExaGrid Offers De-Duplicating iSCSI Gateway

ExaGrid has built an iSCSI gateway device with de-duplication.

The 1U appliance connects to Dells EqualLogic PS5000 Series iSCSI arrays via an HBA, according to Bill Andrews, the ExaGrid CEO. "[It] lets you back up to iSCSI SAN disk and have that data compressed and de-duped. This is replacing the tape library.”

ExaGrid claims data reduction ratios between 10:1 and 50:1 for its iSCSI Gateway, which it says can reduce backup times between 30 percent and 90 percent.

Despite these claims, the ExaGrid CEO told Byte and Switch that just three early adopters are beta testing the Gateway. Only one of these, Stafford Springs, Conn.-based Johnson Health Network, has been made public.

But at least one analyst thinks ExaGrid is onto something.”The real value of this is in the de-duplication,” says Taneja Group analyst Arun Taneja. ”For those users that have their strategic alliance with EqualLogic or Dell, I think that they will find this very attractive.”

Isolating ExaGrid’s de-dupe software, which traditionally runs on the vendor’s own backup appliances, is a shrewd move, according to Taneja.

“I am sure that they are going into accounts, and customers are saying, ‘I already have a strategic alliance with Dell, so I am not sure that I want to buy your disk systems,'" he says. “This basically allows ExaGrid to sell into those accounts.”

ExaGrid’s Andrews pointed to Dell/EqualLogic’s installed base of 3,000 customers as his initial target market, but would not rule out building de-dupe gateways linked to other iSCSI SAN vendors.

ExaGrid is not the only de-dupe specialist with a SAN gateway device, although rival Data Domain’s Gateway Series is aimed at Fibre Channel, not iSCSI.Pricing for ExaGrid’s iSCSI Gateway, which will be available later this month, starts at $39,700.

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