Nexenta Unveils Gateway Deduplication for Tier 1 Storage

Nexenta Systems introduced an upgrade to its frontline NexentaStor enterprise package March 2 that includes the Sun Microsystems-developed Zettabyte File System (ZFS) and Virtual Machine Datacenter 3.0, a new version of the Nexenta virtualization management platform.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company made the announcement at the international CeBIT 2010 electronics-products conference in Hannover, Germany.

A significant new factor regarding NexentaStor 3.0 is that it is the first storage software to offer inline deduplication at the gateway for Tier 1 storage, CEO Evan Powell told eWEEK.

"NexentaStor 3.0 sets a new bar for not only our company, but also the storage industry," Powell said. "By adding deduplication and comprehensive support for the virtualization technologies that matter, we are proving that open standards-based approaches will beat proprietary through innovation, as well as cost savings."

NexentaStor 3.0, which already works directly with the VMware and Citrix XenServer hypervisors, also includes support for Microsoft Hyper-V.

Most deduplication is handled at backup and archiving time, after the data is finished being used in production. NexentaStor 3.0 provides bidirectional deduplication for primary storage as the data enters the system. This methodology screens out duplicate blocks of data at the outset, which saves a substantial amount of capacity on Tier 1 disks—by far the most expensive to operate and maintain.

Compression Also Part of the Deal

NexentaStor 3.0 also adds compression to the deduplication capacity, which enables accelerated I/O through the fast ZFS file system. The new version also includes enhanced support for a broader array of hardware, including 10Gbe Ethernet and SAS-2 controllers, Powell said.

The Virtual Machine Datacenter 3.0 portion of the Nexenta software enables storage administrators to see their entire virtual environment and to provision storage and storage policies—including backup, replication and retention policies—from a Web-based interface.

"The ongoing adoption of Nexenta's OpenStorage solution is proof that there is still room for innovation in the storage market from emerging companies," said George Crump, an analyst for Storage Switzerland. "By adding an inline deduplication capability along with their other capabilities in managing storage for virtualized environments, Nexenta has established itself as a vendor to watch in 2010."

NexentaStor 3.0 will be available by the end of March 2010. For more information, go here.