NetApp Respins Topio Lineup

Good news is worth repeating. That seems to be Network Appliance's take on ReplicatorX, the product it acquired with the $160 million purchase of Topio last year. (See NetApp Grabs Topio.)

This week, for at least the second time in nine months, NetApp will "announce" ReplicatorX's capabilities for multivendor and multisite replication. (See NetApp Re-Releases Topio and NetApp Repackages Topio.) It's part of a larger statement about enhancements to other data management products, including SnapDrive and Virtual File Manager (the software NetApp OEM's from Brocade).

"Three years ago, we would hear that our data management software was a liability," says Jay Kidd, SVP of NetApp's emerging products division. "Now we hear it's a major asset and a reason to buy NetApp."

Kidd's key message about ReplicatorX software, which runs as a package on rackmounted Windows, Unix, or Linux servers, is that it replicates block-level data on any kind of storage network, locally or remotely, to and from anyone's primary and/or secondary storage arrays -- anyone's. That means even if a customer wanted to replicate data from a NetApp filer to one from EMC, it's a go.

Who's not in favor of that? After all, heterogeneous software is the rallying cry of hardware vendors like EMC and NetApp who see the future of disk storage profits shrinking, even as opportunities for software increase.One thing: If you're using FlexClone, NetApp's Ontap cloning function that is integrated with ReplicatorX, you'll still have to port cloned copies to a NetApp machine. (Cloning is often used as a way of creating copies during test and development of software programs, particularly in database environments.)

Another thing: ReplicatorX isn't intended to replace NetApp's SnapMirror replicator, which the vendor says offers additional performance capabilities for NetApp filer-to-Netapp filer replication.

While lots of vendors offer replication software, NetApp's chief competition comes from EMC, which has a similar strategy to improve its third-party software support, and likewise its data center foothold. EMC has been offering RecoverPoint for continuous remote replication with CDP, thanks to its purchase of Kashya for $153 million in May 2006. (See EMC Coughs Up for Kashya.) Cloning is also available from EMC via an integrated package called Replication Manager, which like NetApp's FlexClone, requires copying clones to a proprietary (in this case, EMC) device.

While NetApp's message on ReplicatorX hasn't changed, Kidd says the release this week is new and features some additional capabilities and "new use cases." In view of this last item, pricing has changed. ReplicatorX, which formerly started at $50,000, now has a variety of new price points: ReplicatorX for enterprise disaster recovery starts at $40,000 per Tbyte; for migration, it costs $7,000 a week; for cloning, $15,000 per Tbyte; and for service providers, from $30,000 per Tbyte annually.

While NetApp offered a customer for comment on ReplicatorX -- Quinn-direct Insurance of Cavan, Ireland -- repeated calls to the source went unanswered.At least one analyst is unreservedly upbeat. "NetApp is focused on packaging ReplicatorX to push it aggressively in the market. To me that is extremely important. NetApp is finding ways to get deeper in the data center and ReplicatorX is one more smart way to achieve this," writes analyst Tony Asaro of Enterprise Strategy Group in an email today.

Another analyst is waiting for the other shoe. "So EMC has Kashya-based RecoverPoint, NetApp has Topio-based ReplicatorX. Both are capable of heterogeneous replication.... Capabilities aside, what will be interesting to see and hear about is how the two vendors leverage and allow customers to truly use the heterogeneous capabilities," states Greg Schulz of the StorageIO consultancy, in a note today. In his view, the level of support big storage players actually extend to other vendors' wares remains to be seen.

NetApp is making other software announcements this week, including a new version of its SnapDrive for Windows, enhanced with Unix integration and the ability to reclaim storage space in primary or secondary storage; and a new release of Virtual File Manager, the file virtualization software NetApp OEM's from Brocade, which also has broader Unix support.

Mary Jander, Site Editor, Byte and Switch