Backup Shakes Off Transparency

Backup is all about efficiency, not flash. So it's no surprise that the key to better backup lies not in techniques -- such as continuous data protection (CDP) or wide-area file services (WAFS) -- but in the more hidden areas of de-duplication and compression.

Recently, ADIC spent $63 million to acquire Rocksoft, a firm that specializes in compressing data that appears in more than one place. (See ADIC in De-Dupe Deal.) Some have said that's a hefty premium for a tiny startup without much revenue, and suggests there may have been a bidding war for Rocksoft. ADIC, traditionally a tape vendor, will use Rocksoft's technology to improve its presence in the disk backup market. Are Overland or Sepaton still shopping? No one's saying.

At the same time, Symantec is expected to launch de-duplication software using technology Veritas acquired by buying DataCenter Technologies (DCT) last year. (See Veritas Archives Another Startup.)

It all points to a trend toward ensuring that compression and de-duplication are an integral part of emerging products. "If that capability is not built into any [backup] product in the next 18 months, that vendor will suffer," says analyst Arun Taneja of the Taneja Group.

A range of products already offer these hidden "musts." (See Data Compression: The Squeeze Is On!.) Some backup players, such as Avamar, compress data at the application server where the data originates. Others, like Data Domain, do it on the disk end, where the stored data resides. (See A Storage App Without the Storage.)Regardless of product approach, vendors with de-duplication and compression techniques say they can provide backup more cheaply than tape or even virtual tape vendors can.

Incumbent tape and VTL vendors, including Sun, Overland, and Quantum, believe this. (See Diskers Enjoying Tape Woes.) They've been making moves for a couple of years toward a more disk-based world. Compression and de-duping techniques are simply speeding the ship on its way.

So, welcome to the once-transparent world of backup compression and de-duplication -- a world likely to assume more visible proportions once vendors start campaigning more strenuously for their relative approaches.

Expect to hear more on the fine points: about how products that reduce the footprint of data at the server rather than the storage array, for instance, consume CPU cycles but may reduce the amount of storage traffic on costly WANs; or, how a compression device at the array, on the other hand, cuts complexity. Not to mention the arguments for compression based on disk rather than tape technology. (See ADIC in De-Dupe Deal.)

Watch as what was once humble and unseen takes shape as it's pulled into the open. Get ready for the future of backup.Mary Jander, Site Editor, Byte and Switch

Organizations mentioned in this article: