Quantum Scales Down for De-Dupe Ramp-Up

Quantum ramped up its de-duplication strategy this week, unveiling its first common management software and touting entry-level data center hardware.

First up is Quantums 9-Tbyte DXi7500 Model 9, which is designed for smaller data centers, according to Steve Whitner, Quantum’s product manager.

”This scales from 9 terabytes [of usable capacity] to 180 terabytes,” he says. “This gives customers broader reach, especially in the small and medium data center environments -- it allows people to start low and grow larger.”

Quantum has essentially cut its standing DXi 7500 offerings in half, according to the exec, who notes that the vendor’s smallest DXi7500 before today started at 18 terabytes of usable capacity.

Pricing for a typical configuration of the DXi7500 Model 9, which is available now, is around $135,000.The vendor also unveiled its Vision management software this week, which it says can pull data from all Quantum devices.

“The idea is to give a single pane of glass where an admin can see all their resources,” says Whitner. “It gives you information like IP address, what models, and what the firmware is.”

At this stage, however, the Vision software, which runs on a Windows server, is fairly limited in scope, only drawing information from Quantum disk and tape devices.

The exec explained that Quantum has “certainly not ruled out” extending Vision to devices from other vendors but added that this is not high on the vendor’s list of priorities. “Our goal is not to be in the third-party storage resource management business.”

Pricing for Quantum Vision, which is available now, starts at $7,500 for a solution managing two disk or tape systems.This week’s announcements represent a clear attempt by Quantum to jumpstart its de-dupe business.

The last 18 months have not been easy for the vendor, which suffered execution problems earlier this year. Quantum has also had to contend with the fallout from its $770 million ADIC acquisition, not to mention recent weakness in its Asian and North American branded businesses.

Quantum is also up against the likes of Diligent, now part of IBM, and Sepaton in the de-dupe space, hence the decision to extend its product line.

There is certainly money to be made in de-dupe, as proved by quarterly results from Data Domain and EMC released this week. Another vendor riding the de-dupe wave at the moment is ExaGrid, which announced a major revenue hike in its Q2 results this week.

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