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Data reduction and deduplication

• Select enterprise data backup software to fit data protection needs

  While some backup and recovery software applies to the entire enterprise, other products address environment-specific data protection, virtualization and the public cloud. Continue Reading

• 5 considerations before buying data center backup software

  Backup and recovery software should support various OSes and environments such as VMware, as well as applications running in public cloud IaaS and SaaS platforms. Continue Reading

• Backup deduplication: A complete guide

  Backup deduplication has moved from cutting-edge technology to mainstream staple. Learn about the different types, benefits and challenges of deduplication. Continue Reading

• Simplify the integrated data backup appliance buying process

  Learn how to assess your organization's needs for an integrated backup appliance and to evaluate the different data backup systems on the market to find the right fit. Continue Reading

• Select a data backup appliance with robust functionality

  Many leading appliance-based data backup systems include functions such as backup, archiving, disaster recovery and replication, and they can be used for test/development and analytics. Continue Reading

• Exploring the leading appliance-based data backup systems

  Learn how leading integrated backup appliance systems address key considerations, including capacity and performance, and what operational benefits they offer.Continue Reading

• Data backup appliance offers simplicity and efficiency

  Learn how an integrated backup appliance can help sites with scalability issues or no dedicated backup team streamline the design and implementation of their backup architecture.Continue Reading

• Cohesity DataPlatform 4

  Cohesity's converged data protection product, DataPlatform, integrates appliances with backup, archiving and data analytics while shrinking secondary storage's data footprint.Continue Reading

• How does deduplication in cloud computing work and is it beneficial?

  The deduplication process reduces the amount of data in a storage system, but dedupe in the cloud may be more valuable to the cloud provider than the customer.Continue Reading

• What are the downsides of copy data storage management?

  Copy data management can help an organization lower its costs by cutting back on extraneous copies of data, but the technology can cause performance bottlenecks.Continue Reading

• Five questions to ask potential copy data management vendors

  When selecting a copy data management product, the number of available options may seem daunting. Discover how to compare products to get the one that meets your specific needs.Continue Reading

• Veritas' enterprise backup software balances old and new school needs

  Veritas NetBackup software comes with many backup capabilities for the enterprise, like backup to tape, VM recovery and cloud integration.Continue Reading

• Veeam backup and recovery software now backs up cloud and enterprises

  With features that support the complex demands of enterprises and cloud-based data recovery, Veeam backup software continues to outpace other vendors' offerings.Continue Reading

• Commvault backup software builds in cloud capability, virtualization

  By embracing new technology, like the cloud and virtualization, Commvault Systems provides businesses with a complete backup application featuring a litany of support and integrations.Continue Reading

• What are some new data deduplication techniques?

  Copy data management is just one technology utilizing recent innovations in the backup deduplication space, combatting sprawl and managing snapshots.Continue Reading

• Test your copy data storage management knowledge

  Every organization makes copies of data, but could they be gobbling up vital amounts of storage space? Take this quiz to see if you know copy data management best practices.Continue Reading

• Do I still need an enterprise-level backup software application?

  With ever more powerful primary storage, why is backup still relevant? In this feature, storage expert George Crump explores the business case for backup applications.Continue Reading

• Now's the time to virtualize backup deduplication

  Converged infrastructures and hyper-converged appliances have left backup deduplication among the few physical parts of the storage infrastructure.Continue Reading

• Block-level deduplication vs. zone-level deduplication

  Block-level deduplication is a popular form of the dedupe process, but it has its drawbacks. Discover why zone-level deduplication may be better for your storage environment.Continue Reading

• Can your deduplication process be improved with semantic dedupe?

  While semantic deduplication is a legacy technology, the global deduplication process can perform a similar job. Expert Brien Posey compares the two offerings.Continue Reading

• Is deduplication ratio an important backup consideration?

  The deduplication ratio was once a point of vendor competition, but now this figure doesn’t carry the weight it used to. Learn why in this Expert Answer.Continue Reading

• ROBO backup necessary for ample corporate data protection

  There is no universal set of rules for ROBO backup. But all corporate data protection plans need to consider it, Jason Buffington explains.Continue Reading

• Remote data backup options offer a centralized approach

  Remote data backup options include integrated backup appliances, the cloud and a hybrid approach. Discover the pros and cons of each strategy.Continue Reading

• Dell DR appliances gain capacity, speed for enterprise use

  Dell moves to take its DR backup appliances upstream with more capacity, faster ingest rates and VTL connectivity.Continue Reading

• Why copy data management matters

  Your organization requires better data protection that responds to its scaling needs. Copy data management (CDM) could be the answer.Continue Reading

• Dell DR6000 Disk Backup Appliance

  Dell's DR6000 disk backup appliance is enhanced with Rapid NFS and Rapid CIFS for source-side deduplication.Continue Reading

• HP StoreOnce 6500

  The HP StoreOnce 6500 backup and deduplication appliance takes gold in Storage magazine's annual Products of the Year awards.Continue Reading

• Quantum Corp. DXi6900 Deduplication Appliance

  Quantum's DXi6900 backup deduplication appliance grabs silver in the Storage magazine/ SearchStorage.com Products of the Year awards.Continue Reading

• Enterprise data protection shopping lists focus on cost, scalability

  Changing backup applications or processes may keep storage managers awake at night, but cost and scalability concerns remain firm.Continue Reading

• What is Data Domain Boost and what is it used for?

  SearchDataBackup Senior Site Editor Andrew Burton explains what EMC's Data Domain Boost software is designed for, how it works, and which products it supports in this Expert Answer.Continue Reading

• Examining today's data protection solutions

  Exponential data growth, the need for more frequent data protection, the rise of server virtualization and a variety of other challenges have emerged over the past few years, and backup vendors have begun to offer alternatives to traditional nightly...Continue Reading

• EMC tailors data protection products for app admins

  EMC wants to make its data protection products -- including Data Domain, Avamar, NetWorker, Vplex -- more appealing to non-backup administrators.Continue Reading

• Comparing available deduplication hardware options

  Choosing the right deduplication hardware option requires a comparison of expected savings, performance requirements and storage capacity consumption.Continue Reading

• The differences between hardware replication and software replication

  Before an organization can perform data replication, it must decide if it wants hardware replication or to replicate data at the software level.Continue Reading

• Evaluating disk- and cloud-based backup options

  Dedupe arrays, integrated backup appliances and cloud backups are three ways enterprise users are backing up files.Continue Reading

• The backup target today

  There are many backup target options available with a wide range of price points. They include everything from tape drives and tape libraries to virtual tape libraries, deduplication arrays, integrated backup appliances and cloud backups.
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• Is this the end for target deduplication storage appliances?

  Marc Staimer examines why the target deduplication storage appliance market appears to be in decline, even with the presence of EMC, Symantec and HP.Continue Reading

• Dedupe tools available today

  Brien Posey discusses who is using deduplicating disk arrays today and the latest dedupe tools in this Expert Answer.Continue Reading

• EMC backup SVP: Backups need to go native, not as batch processes

  New EMC backup SVP discusses trends he sees for data protection over the next few years, including why BYOD isn't an IT priority and tape isn't dead.Continue Reading

• ExaGrid deduplication boxes get bigger, faster

  ExaGrid deduplication appliances inch toward the enterprise with the EX21000E, a system that can scale to 210 TB in a 10-unit grid.Continue Reading

• InMage packages CDP, storage and compute into 'Magic Box'

  InMage's 4000 Series "Magic Box" places software, compute and storage capacity on a turnkey appliance for backup, disaster recovery.Continue Reading

• Sepaton unveils VirtuoSO backup appliance with NAS interface

  No longer a VTL-only holdout, Sepaton launches VirtuoSO backup appliance with NAS interface and plans to add Fibre Channel support.Continue Reading

• Dell backup integration begins with NetVault, DR4100 dedupe appliance

  Dell backup products come from various acquisitions, but at least NetVault and DR4100 now work together.Continue Reading

• Deduping 101: What you must know before buying a deduplication product

  In our series on deduping in 2013, independent backup expert Brien Posey outlines important things to consider before choosing a dedupe product.Continue Reading

• Choose the right dedupe approach

  Data deduplication technologies have existed in various forms for years, but now, dedupe is a standard in our current IT landscape. Expert Brien M. Posey explains how you can master the concept and ensure your backups are the best fit for your ...Continue Reading

• Deduplication technology buying guide: Target deduplication products

  Download our free deduplication technology buying guide on target deduplication to help you choose the best product.Continue Reading

• EMC Data Domain goes after long-term data retention with Archiver product

  EMC's Data Domain deduplication platform gets a new member -- an archiving system for long-term data retention to go with its backup appliances, which have also been upgraded with new high-end and global dedupe models.Continue Reading

• Deduplication best practices and choosing the best dedupe technology

  In our guide on deduplication best practices, learn how to choose the best dedupe technology, the differences between inline deduplication and post-processing, and more.Continue Reading

• Implementing data deduplication technology in a virtualized environment

  More environments are showing an interest in implementing data deduplication in their virtualized environments. Find out what's driving this interest and what to watch out for.Continue Reading

• Data backup news briefs: ExaGrid announces integration of deduplication product with NetBackup

  This week's data backup and recovery news in brief: ExaGrid announces integration of deduplication product with NetBackup; Siber Systems releases data backup/sync product and more.Continue Reading

• Choosing data deduplication products: Hardware and software offerings

  Choosing a data deduplication product can be tricky. Learn about what to look for in a dedupe product, read about major data dedupe vendors and how to choose the best product for your company.Continue Reading

• What open-source data deduplication software options are available?

  W. Curtis Preston explains two open-source data deduplication software options currently available -- BackupPC and Oracle's Solaris ZFS, in this ask the expert response.Continue Reading

• Data backup and disaster recovery Products of the Year winners

  The results are in for the 2009 Products of the Year. Find out who the winners are in the data backup and disaster recovery categories.Continue Reading

• Low-cost data replication products address SMB restore needs

  Replication can be a good option for SMBs who need fast restores, and there are a number of low-cost replication options in the market today. James Damoulakis, CTO of Glasshouse Technologies, discusses the pros and cons of low-cost replication, ...Continue Reading

• Global deduplication can simplify administration of multiple deduplication devices

  Global deduplication allows users to deduplicate data across multiple boxes, which can simplify management as companies back up more and more data. Curtis Preston, executive editor of the Storage Media Group, discusses the pros and cons of global ...Continue Reading

• Pros and cons of block/variable block deduplication

  Learn how block/variable block deduplication is used, and what the pros and cons of this type of deduplication are for SMBs.Continue Reading

• Evaluating a data deduplication product for data backup and recovery

  When evaluating a data deduplication product, cost, performance, scalability and the deduplication domain are just a few of the considerations. Here's what else you need to think about when buying a dedupe product.Continue Reading

• Dell's data deduplication strategy: partner for target and host dedupe products

  Dell takes the 'it's a feature, not a product,' approach to data deduplication, and adds the feature in as many places as possible.Continue Reading

• Target-based data deduplication technology product considerations

  Learn what's important to look for in target-based data deduplication products in this tip by data backup expert W. Curtis Preston.Continue Reading

• Quantum, NEC add to data deduplication products; FalconStor claims fastest recovery time in virtual

  Quantum launches its first dedupe disk backup box for remote offices while NEC makes HydraStor's dedupe content aware.Continue Reading

• Data deduplication product trends in data backup

  Even with all of the data deduplication product rollouts last year, we can expect plenty more throughout this year. Here's a look a new product developments in dedupe.Continue Reading

• Data deduplication solutions for SMBs

  Data deduplication is becoming increasingly popular SMBs because it saves time and money out of the box. This tip discusses data deduplication options and how using less storage capacity can delay additional purchasing.Continue Reading

• Evaluating data deduplication products for SMBs

  In this tip, Marc Staimer examines data deduplication and data reduction technologies for SMBs, including HP Data Protector, IBM Corp.'s Tivoli Storage Manager, Symantec NetBackup Pure Disk and more.Continue Reading

• Data destruction options for your backup data

  When data backups are deleted in your business, are they really gone? In this FAQ, Executive Editor and Independent Backup Expert W. Curtis Preston discusses data destruction in backup environments.Continue Reading

• Data replication for backup best practices

  Replication is increasingly becoming a critical business need for many organizations. In this interview, Executive Editor and Independent Backup Expert W. Curtis Preston discusses synchronous and asynchronous replication, deduplication and ...Continue Reading

• New features make choosing a data protection application trickier

  Modernizing backup isn't just about disk and tape. Organizations also have an unprecedented number of software options to improve their backup process for different applications.Continue Reading

• Virtual tape library (VTL) data deduplication FAQ

  John Merryman, services director for recovery services at GlassHouse Technologies Inc., discusses the pros and cons of virtual tape library (VTL) data deduplication and the state of the VTL deduplication market today in this Q&A. His answers are ...Continue Reading

• Data deduplication FAQ

  Will you be able to achieve the huge data reduction ratios that data deduplication vendors are touting? In this FAQ guide, analyst Jerome Wendt answers the most common data deduplication questions he's hearing today.Continue Reading

• Virtual server backup FAQ

  How much are virtualized server environments affecting backup processes? Mark Bowker, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group, answers the most common questions about virtual server backup from storage administrators. His answers are also ...Continue Reading

• Are pretty much all of the virtual tape library (VTL) vendors now offering deduplication or is it st

  I think it's a fair statement to say that today most of the leading VTL vendors and a lot of the network-attached storage (NAS) vendors are offering deduplication. There are some incumbents and some newcomers...Continue Reading

• You touched on restores from forward referencing and backward referencing deduplication, but what ab

  With inline deduplication, one of the pros is that when it's done, it's done. So when your data is written into the device, dedupe is accomplished and you keep on trucking...Continue Reading

• We're hearing a lot about forward-referencing deduplication and backward-referencing deduplication.

  Sure, I'll hit that first and then talk about the other aspect of dedupe; inline versus post-process. Basically, reverse referencing means that your newest backup as it's written into a dedupe environment is going to be within that environment made ...Continue Reading

• What are the benefits of using a virtual tape library (VTL) for data deduplication?

  Well, there are a few big use cases right now that are driving data deduplication to the forefront of the decision-making that's going on in backup environments. The bottom line is that data deduplication is dramatically changing the economics of ...Continue Reading

• What are the drawbacks of using a virtual tape library (VTL) for data deduplication?

  There are really no alternatives for disk-based backup outside of backup software options. For example, Symantec has PureDisk that offers a data deduplication function at the client. IBM is soon to release a similar function in its software product....Continue Reading

• The pros and cons of file-level vs. block-level data deduplication technology

  Some data deduplication approaches operate at the file level, while others examine data at a block level. This tip explores advantages and disadvantages of each method.Continue Reading

• Data backup options for remote sites

  Data backup for remote sites can be very challenging. But there are several new storage technologies, most notably data deduplication, that can facilitate remote office backup.Continue Reading

• Record sales reported for data deduplication products

  Data Domain, ExaGrid and EMC Avamar all report surging sales for their data deduplication products this week.Continue Reading

• The pros and cons of globally deduplicating data backup appliances

  Global data deduplication is a way for companies to achieve higher data reduction ratios, use less storage capacity and keep data online for longer periods of time.Continue Reading

• How does data deduplication affect the backup process in a virtual server environment?

  I'm hearing more and more questions about data deduplication and virtualization. And, it's not just server virtualization...Continue Reading

• What type of data reduction ratios should you realistically expect using deduplication?

  There are two ways you can look at it. Most people are looking at data deduplication in conjunction with backup; backup appliances performing deduplication or even virtual tape libraries (VTL)...Continue Reading

• There are also concerns about data loss due to hash collisions. How have manufacturers addressed tha

  I've had a chance to speak to a number of vendors about this, and for the most part they say that this is pretty much...Continue Reading

• Which data deduplication appliances and backup software do you view as enterprise ready?

  If you have 20 TB of data to backup, I would say most data deduplication appliances on the market today can handle...Continue Reading

• What happens if you fill up a storage system with deduplicated data and it needs to grow?

  This is really the Achilles heel of data deduplication right now...Continue Reading

• How to ensure scaling and reliability in data deduplication systems

  A data deduplication system needs to be able to scale so that your files are safe and available at all times.Continue Reading

• How to evaluate software-based data deduplication products

  In the second chapter of our data deduplication handbook, learn how to evaluate software-based products and dedupe's relationship to compression and encryption.Continue Reading

• Why is single instance storage important when looking at an email archiving solution?

  It is important; let me give you an example. Say the human resources department at a company of 1,000 people sends out an email with a 1 megabyte (MB) message attachment to every employee...Continue Reading