Measurable Benefits from Data Deduplication

Measurable benefits from data deduplication

By looking at all the ways and places one can benefit from data deduplication, an IT organization can make the right decision on where to begin using this powerful technology. IT organizations have seen a range of measurable benefits from deduplication that includes the ability to:

1. Move up to 90 percent less VM data

2. Reduce backup storage by as much as 95 percent

3. Minimize backup windows and reduce network utilization by up to 90 percent

4. Eliminate 80 percent of tape costs and obviate the need to invest in virtual tape libraries

Data deduplication can be performed in two places: at the source or at the target. Deduplication as close to the information source as possible delivers the most value and can enhance a large part of many environments. Of course, every environment is different and these decisions should be based on the type of data, the volume and, of course, the recovery service-level agreements (SLAs) of that environment.

Data deduplication at the source

With source (often referred to as client-side) data deduplication, data is deduplicated before it is transmitted across the network and stored. By eliminating redundant data before it is sent across the network, deduplication at the source improves the efficient utilization of bandwidth, storage and VM resources across the entire infrastructure.

It is likely that many organizations could use client-side data deduplication for as much as 60 to 80 percent of their data. This would result in faster backups, dramatically less network usage and reduced storage consumption.

Some client-side data deduplication solutions work the same across virtual and physical environments. As a result, regardless of whether it is a VM or a physical machine, less data is stored. This not only reduces storage costs in the data center, it also makes it easier to move data to a disaster recovery site using replication.