De-Dupe Suppliers Aim Lower

Data Domain is attempting to push de-duplication into remote offices with the launch of its DD120 device today, and rival Diligent is planning to launch its own offering in this space later this year.

Touted by Data Domain as the smallest-ever "full-function de-dupe system," the DD120 is meant for corporate outposts. "We're not positioning this for small businesses, we're positioning this for small offices and branch offices of larger companies," says Brian Biles, Data Domain's vice president of product marketing. "It does everything our existing systems do, it's just smaller."

The 1U DD120 has a physical capacity of 750 Gbytes, although this can equal up to 18 Tbytes of logical data by using de-duplication, according to Biles. Data Domain's Replicator software, which is only offered as an optional add-on for the vendor's other products, comes standard on the DD120.

"That allows you to connect over a WAN to another Data Domain system," says Biles, explaining that this can be used to share data between multiple devices for "cross-site de-duplication."

Data Domain's previous low-end device, the 3U DD510, had a physical capacity of 3.75 Tbytes and a logical capacity of up to 135 Tbytes. The DD510 was also much faster than the newcomer, transferring data at up to 290 Gbytes an hour, compared to the DD120's 150 Gbytes an hour.But the scaled-down DD120 is much cheaper than its predecessor. Pricing for the low-end system, which is available now, is $12,500, compared to the DD510's $21,000 list price, which includes a $2,000 license for the Replicator software.

Despite its claims to be the trailblazer of remote office de-duplication, Data Domain was unable to provide any early adopters who are currently using its DD120.

De-duplication, which eliminates redundant files from the backup to save space and increase backup times, has nonetheless been identified as one of the technologies most likely to flourish in the current climate of economic uncertainty. This, in turn, has prompted a flurry of recent activity from vendors.

Data Domain's rival Diligent admits that its main focus is on high-end enterprises, although Doron Kempel, the vendor's CEO, told Byte & Switch that its ProtecTier software is increasingly found in the midrange, thanks to reseller deals with Overland and HDS.

Like Data Domain, Diligent uses an "inline" approach to de-duplication, where data is compressed on the fly while it is being sent to the target, and Kempel says that it is now planning to extend its wares into remote offices."We will soon be making some announcements with partners," he says. "Since we already have the ability to de-dupe and run on small systems such as Overland's and Hitachi's, all we have to do is add replication capabilities."

The exec told Byte and Switch that Diligent will be building its own replication software sometime later this year. "I don't want to talk on [partners'], behalf, but you will be getting some announcements soon."

Underlining the changing dynamics of the de-dupe market, Sun, which also resells the ProtecTier software, today clinched a deal with Avnet to sell de-duplication into SMBs.

Vendors such as Symantec, Asigra, and EMC, which bought Avamar for $165 million in late 2006, are also targeting the low-end of the de-duplication market, although they use a different approach to Data Domain and Diligent.

These vendors handle compression on the server before the backup. This is supposed to reduce the amount of data backed up, so less data has to be moved across the network, although the approach does consume server CPU cycles.Have a comment on this story? Please click "Discuss" below. If you'd like to contact Byte and Switch's editors directly, send us a message.