Exagrid DeltaZone: Deduplication Without Compromise

Block or byte? For the longest time, that was the question for technologists in the hunt for a deduplication system had to ask. They had to decide between a more efficient, but highly customized solutions using generic byte-based deduplication or whether they could work with less efficient, but easier to deploy solution content-aware block-based deduplication.

Exagrid hopes to answer that conundrum with the introduction of a new software feature this week called DeltaZone Deduplication. The company claims that DeltaZone is the first deduplication algorithm to allow for generic or content-aware byte-level deduplication along with GRID scalability. With Exagrid's architecture, organizations add blocks of CPU, memory and bandwidth along with storage to  scale the deduplication function. This prevents any one component from bottlenecking the system.  

"Scalability and flexibility are factors when considering the long-term viability of a deduplication approach. The hash index for a generic block-level deduplication approach could outgrow memory and introducing scalability limitations, but the generic approach is able to support any backup application.  Byte-level delta deduplication approaches don't require a hash table, but need content awareness of the backup application's data stream," said Lauren Whitehouse, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc.

ExaGrid's disk backup system with data deduplication supports leading backup applications and utilities, including CA ARCserve, CommVault Simpana and IBM System i platform (AS400 or iSeries). ExaGrid disk backup systems target companies whose primary storage is between 1TB and 100TBs of data.  

ExaGrid's DeltaZone Deduplication with expanded GRID scalability is shipping now and is included in the existing software.