ExaGrid Systems is continuing its quest to become the disk-based backup vendor of choice for the midmarket by adding compression technology and support for an additional major backup software product to its flagship product.
ExaGrid is an appliance designed to replace tape technology in a seamless manner, reducing the amount of storage capacity needed to perform regular backups.
The addition of compression to the ExaGrid system further adds to the companys core value proposition of reducing capacity when doing backups.
The product already offered byte-level delta technology, a technology that already reduces capacity on about a 20:1 basis.
“It allows users to put two to three times the backup into the box, which means they dont have to buy as much hardware to do the same job,” said Fred Pinkett, vice president of market development at the Westborough, Mass., company.
“Our focus is to provide a turnkey solution as cost-effectively as possible for customers moving from tape-based to a disk-to-disk-to-tape strategy. By adding compression to the box, were continuing to drive that cost down.”
Adding compression is particularly important in becoming a market leader against both established players like EMC and Network Appliance, as well as emerging players like Data Domain of Palo Alto, Calif., said Tony Asaro, a senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group of Milford, Mass.
“Compression will get you even further than their byte-level delta technology,” he said.
“They didnt really put a stake in the ground as to how much further compression would reduce capacity, but a basic straightforward compression algorithm should be able to give you 2:1. So you are talking about turning 20:1 into 40:1 or even 60:1”.
Asaro noted that although chief competitor Data Domain also offers 20:1 data capacity reduction, it accomplishes that goal with compression—something ExaGrid is adding on top of its byte-level delta technology, which already offers 20:1 data reduction.
The newest release of ExaGrid also adds support for CommVault Galaxy.
The product already supported Symantec Backup Exec and NetBackup, CA BrightStor ARCServe, and Microsoft SQL Server dumps. Support for CommVault Galaxy is just the next step in serving as many users as possible, Pinkett said.
With the release of ExaGrid 2.1, ExaGrid has taken an important step in remaining competitive and gaining market share in the lucrative but sometimes overlooked midmarket, Asaro said.
“From a business execution point of view, its important that they can support more backup applications, so support for CommVault Galaxy will help open up their total addressable market,” he said. “And from a technological point of view, adding compression is really key.”