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Quantum Digs Into Disk Backup

Quantum Corp. (NYSE: DSS) is expanding its foray into the world of disk, with plans to announce new products in and enhancements to its DX backup family at NetWorld+Interop in Las Vegas tomorrow.

While the original DX30 -- which has been shipping since last October -- is aimed at smaller enterprises in need of more backup capacity, the enhanced model, as well as the new DX100, can scale to address the needs of large enterprises and data centers running mission-critical databases, the company says (see Quantum Slips Disks Into Backup and Quantum Ships Disk Backup).

Quantums DX family consists of disk backup technology that emulates tape. Companies can use the same software they use for tape libraries to hook up to the DX disk drives. But while the disks may look like tape, they offer backup that is eight times faster than a typical tape-based system. In addition, disk also offers a much faster and more effective way of restoring data.

"The backup software simply sees the backup as a tape library," says David Kenyon, a product line manager at Quantum. This gives Quantum an edge over some of its competitors which require customers to buy proprietary software when they switch to disk, he says.

And Quantum will need every edge it can get. Although this space is still embryonic, there’s an abundance of companies eager for a chunk of the action -- EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), Network Appliance Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP), and Storage Technology Corp. (StorageTek) (NYSE: STK) are only some of players aiming for a piece of the pie (see Disk Backup 101).

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