Data Domain Expands De-Dupe Capacity, Performance

De-duplication, also called "de-dupe," removes duplicate information as data is backed up or archived. It can be done on the file level, where duplicate files are replaced with a marker pointing to one copy of the file, and/or at the sub-file or byte level, where duplicate bytes of data are removed, resulting in a significant decrease in storage capacity requirements.

A single DD580 can be configured with up to 31.5 Tbytes of hard drive capacity, which can be used to store up to 1.2 petabytes of data before de-duplication, with a backup and recovery speed of 800 Gbytes per hour, said Brian Biles, co-founder and vice president of product management at the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company.

However, it can be scaled to up to 16 controllers to store a maximum of 20 petabytes of data with performance to over 12 Tbytes per hour, Biles said.

The increase in performance comes from using two dual-core Intel processors in the DD580, Biles said. This is important because the Data Domain de-dupe appliances uses in-line technology, which does the de-dupe process as the data is received, he said.

The increase in capacity and performance is important to CFC Technology, a Plymouth, Minn.-based solution provider which provides managed services to financial companies including community banks and leasing firms.

Dan Sanderson, vice president of networked service for CFC, said his company provides Data Domain appliances to its SafetyVault managed service clients, but that the previous versions, because they maxed out at 6 Tbytes of raw capacity, were not as expandable as needed.

"We're in a very regulated industry, where companies are required to have disaster recovery plans," Sanderson said. "The ability to have bigger boxes with higher speed is important. The DD580 goes up to 20 Pbytes. This lets us retain a lot more data. A lot of this data has to be kept for seven years."

Scalability is important to keep up with that data growth, Sanderson said. "The DD580 allows us to grow as data grows," he said. "You don't have to replace equipment. You can add capacity as you grow."

Data Domain on Monday also unveiled the DD580g, a gateway version of the DD580 which, instead of coming with internal storage, connects via Fibre Channel to storage capacity on arrays from such vendors as EMC, Network Appliance, Hitachi Data Systems and Nexsan.

The DD580 with 15.5 Tbytes of data lists for $150,000, or $120,000 with 7.5 Tbytes, Biles said. The DD580g, with a license for up to 31 Tbytes of data, lists for $130,000.

Sales are almost exclusively done through the channel, Biles said.