Storewiz Bolsters Compression

Data compression vendor Storewiz has upgraded its products with more CPU power and more efficient algorithms to achieve higher ratios of compression on data in primary storage. (See Storewiz Intros Product Line.)

Storewiz, whose claim to fame has been the ability to scrunch data as it travels from server or switch to back-end array, says its can improve its existing compression ratios for databases as well as CIFS and NFS files. "We are using more CPUs and can spread the workload among multiple CPUs," says Gal Naor, CEO of Storewiz.

The new STN-6000, represented by two new products initially, can improve compression ratios from 3:1 to 4:1 for files, saving 67 percent of capacity, the vendor claims. Databases can achieve up to 5:1 compression.

No customers are available to back up Storewiz's claims.

Still, at least one analyst thinks the vendor's take on compression is relatively unusual and worth considering. "While most de-dupe discussions focus on backup and data archiving, data compaction solutions like those from Storewiz can be applied to primary, secondary, tertiary, or any level of storage, not just backup and archive," says Greg Schulz of the StorageIO consultancy.Storewiz's ability to support all levels of storage traffic comes from compressing data "on the fly," as it travels from switch or server to storage. Data Domain, Diligent, and Quantum take a similar approach, but these firms deal with backup and archiving, not primary storage. (See Sepaton Adds De-Dupe to VTL.)

In contrast, products from Asigra, EMC (via Avamar), and Symantec compress data on a server before it is sent to backup. A third group, including FalconStor and Sepaton, compress data outside the data path, after it is written to the target disk.

Brad O'Neill of the Taneja Group consultancy says Storewiz's approach is most likely to succeed. "I am now completely convinced that optimization of primary storage workloads will become a common feature of enterprise storage within a few years," he writes in an email.

He notes that many other compression techniques obtain 2:1 ratios, depending on application.

There are tradeoffs. The on-the-fly approach reduces potential storage bottlenecks. The appliances also don't have any internal hard drives or storage, and they boot from flash memory in case of failure. (See Data Compression: The Squeeze Is On!.) But on-the-fly requires more processing than alternative approaches.This doesn't bother Gal Naor. "We significantly reduce the amount of data you need to store," he says. "We may add some microseconds to response time, but you're saving milliseconds on storage."

Aren't disk vendors resistant? If they are, their channel partners aren't. "We have lots of EMC and NetApp partners," Naor says.

Pricing is on par with other solutions in this space. The STN-6000, including an STN-6300 for departmental/remote office use, is priced from $22,000. The enterprise STN-6500 is priced from $42,000. Both are available now.

Mary Jander, Site Editor, Byte and Switch