Symantec’s EV 9.0 Now Certified for Dell Object Storage

Object-oriented storage is beginning to earn more attention lately. The latest example of this is the announcement Sept. 7 that Dell has certified Symantec’s Enterprise Vault 9.0 storage system for its DX Object Storage Solution.

EV 9.0 on the DX is Dell-Symantec’s new pre-integrated, validated, end-to-end storage and data-archiving package, which takes into account both on-premises and cloud storage. It archives emails, files, text messages, photos and other files and now supports Microsoft’s Exchange 2010 SP1 and SharePoint 2010 and Domino 8.5.1.

Dell and Microsoft aren’t the only ones hooking up with Symantec on EV 9.0. It also is sanctioned to work with Caringo’s CAStor new-generation object-based storage system.

News flash: Up-and-coming Caringo is now offering Enterprise Vault users 4TB of fully functional CAStor software for free to use with EV 9.0. Go here to check that out.

A bit of background on object storage: Objects can be basically anything in a storage system — files, data logs, photos, video — even groups of these files. Object-oriented storage differs from unstructured file storage in that the objects filed are not housed in volumes or attached to a directory. Objects are simply assigned an ID number or name with detailed metadata and can be retrieved at any time.

The EV 9.0 can serve as an on-premises archive for cloud email generated by Microsoft Hosted Exchange, Symantec Vice President of Product Management Brian Dye told The Station. EV 9.0 also manages discovery and compliance in-house, even when email is outsourced.

The new package also provides what Symantec calls Hybrid Information Management, which includes cross-platform deduplication services, e-discovery and file retention — again, even when email is outsourced.

So, for the first time, enterprises now can obtain a pre-integrated, validated and branded Dell-Symantec end-to-end storage and data archiving system. Thanks to Dell and Symantec’s open-standards approach and legacy-friendly architecture, IT managers can hook up the system to existing storage and server hardware, and it will work, Dye said.

EV 9.0 can scale to store billions of files or petabytes of information while avoiding the cost of a so-called “forklift” upgrade, Dye said. Go here for more information.