Symantec rides dedupe roadmap to backup software
Will reach NetBackup and Backup Exec by next March
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Symantec is embedding deduplication capabilities in NetBackup and Backup Exec as part of its ongoing of its backup software.
Instead of seeing these software products backup data to deduplicating appliances, such as those from EMC, Data Domain or Dell's DL2000 CommVault Simpana box, Symantec will have its own backup products remove redundant block-level data strings from backup data and enable it to be stored in much less disk space than before. In other words it will have a source dedupliction capability instead of having other product targets deduplicate the data it has backed up
Stifel Nicolaus analyst Aaron Rakers has produced a research note saying that dedupe would be integrated in NetBackup 7.0 and Backup Exec 2010 in the second half of its financial 2010 year, which closes at the end of March, 2010. It will use the PureDisk Deduplication Engine (PDDE) from its separate PureDisk product line.
The PureDisk product will be upgraded to v6.6 in the first half of Symantec's fiscal 2010, which finishes at the end of September this year, and support up to 16TB of capacity per node. It will also feature support for Oracle and Exchange environments and work better with VMware.
Apparently Symantec was going to announce a strategic partnership with Data Domain, until that company decided it wanted to get taken over by NetApp. This would probably have taken advantage of Symantec's OST (Open Storage Technology) interface and the company can still use this and partner for target-based deduplication situations that its own source deduplication technology won't be applicable for.
Separately from this there is speculation that Symantec may be in talks to acquire InMage for its DR-Scout disaster recovery and business continuity software. Both companies have responded "no comment" to questions about this. ®
COMMENTS
Symantec not trying to buy InMage
I'm assured by Eric Burgener, SVP marketing at InMage, that there is no truth to the rumour that Symantec is trying to buy InMage.
Chris.
Clarification
This article is a bit misleading as although Symantec already have a totally positive story for the backup of remote offices that doesn't need hardware vendor tie-in, they also already offer deduplication away from the remote office via the PDDO option for Netbackup . Admittedly this is server side de-dup as opposed to client side, but does avoid any client overhead.
What El Reg is talking about is client side de-dup. That will come in NBU and BUE. It might even have come with EMC, but by their desperate actions in trying to buy Data Domain they're clearly saying that their current de-dup technology - Avamar - doesn't cut the mustard, hence them looking elsewhere.
Who does that leave? Commvault? Themselves a potential acquisition target? Tolly Group didn't seem to rate them...
http://www.tolly.com/DocDetail.aspx?DocNumber=209125
http://www.tolly.com/DocDetail.aspx?DocNumber=209123
Research before publishing
" Instead of seeing these software products backup data to deduplicating appliances, such as those from EMC, Data Domain or Dell's DL2000 CommVault Simpana box, ..."
Ahh Commvault has been doing this with the implemenation of 8.0. The DL2000 box is simply a prepackaged solution of a server with storage, which uses CommVaults Dedup engine. The others referenced are Hardware Solutions.
If readers want a true discription of what the author is trying to talking about go to Commvault.com
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