Data deduplication, data reduction, capacity optimization … call it what you will, but the end game is to optimize data transfer and storage. The impact on backup/secondary storage has been significant—both for the vendors with the technology and those IT organizations that have deployed it. While the excitement to date has been centered on deduplication in backup, the shift to primary storage is on … especially since Dell announced yesterday that it plans to acquire Ocarina Networks, a provider of content-aware data compression and deduplication solutions for unstructured data.
So how does the acquisition benefit Dell? Dell sells storage systems for primary and backup data, and wants to provide features that lower data management costs for end-users. But where does the Ocarina technology fit considering Dell’s existing partnerships with CommVault (Simpana on PowerVault DL systems), EMC (resell Data Domain) and Symantec (Backup Exec on PowerVault DL systems)? What’s the relationship between data deduplicated on primary storage and data deduplicated in backup processes?
In an earlier post, I discussed the benefits of deduplicating “upstream”—as close to the source of data as possible with solutions from the likes of Exar, GreenBytes, NetApp, Permabit, and StorWize. One of the theories is that data can be backed up in its optimized state—that is, without having to be “rehydrated” or “reinflated” to its non-optimized format for backup processes. This would enable an end-to-end deduplication strategy for data. Not quite sure how this plays out with some of the primary deduplication solutions, including Ocarina.
With this gotcha in mind, it would, therefore, make sense that Dell would need deduplication for primary data and other solutions (CommVault, EMC and Symantec) for backup data. The technologies from these different vendors could be complementary. I don’t know how efficient a story that is for Dell customers … it’s definitely a wrinkle Dell will have to iron out as it brings Ocarina-optimized storage to market and positions it versus other capacity optimization technologies in its portfolio.
Read more of Lauren’s blog entries at Data Protection Perspectives.
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