Desktops, Laptops Now Get EMC Avamar Deduplication Backup

EMC, a longtime incumbent of the data center, is making inroads into the offices of users.
The storage giant Nov. 17 said it is now providing-via the latest version of its Avamar deduplication and NetWorker backup software-enterprise-quality data backup for desktop and laptop computers.
The client runs scheduled backups that include deduplication, so that only new documents and changes to existing files and data are sent to storage. The 5.0 client software performs a full image backup, including files, file systems, system state and applications.
EMC Avamar 5.0 utilizes block-level data deduplication to back up data with one universally available instance. Data deduplication eliminates redundant data from a disk storage device in order to lower storage space requirements, which in turn lowers data center power and cooling costs and lessens the amount of carbon dioxide produced to generate power to run the hardware.
EMC Avamar can be used on both Windows and Macintosh desktops and laptops, thanks to new lightweight clients now available for each. The clients run scheduled backups that include deduplication, sending only new files and changes to existing files to storage. The Avamar client software can also run a full image backup, if programmed to do so.
“The backup and protection of critical corporate data on desktops and laptops is often overlooked,” Jim O’Dorisio, vice president of engineering in EMC’s Backup Recovery Systems Division, said. “Also, as the number of mobile users grows, and the amount and importance of the data stored by these users’ increases, organizations can face critical corporate data protection exposures.”
EMC also said it has increased Avamar’s backup capacity by more than 60 percent and added new deduplicated export-to-tape functionality.
Avamar 5.0 sports new virtualization support of VMware vSphere 4 through vCenter and vStorage integration. Avamar is now fully integrated with the new vStorage API that comes as part of vSphere 4 and provides a robust package for VMware backups. In turn, vCenter has been integrated into the Avamar management console to provide a single point of management for all backup options available.
On the data center side, Avamar Data Store Gen3 is now available in one to 16 storage node configurations, with up to 3.3TB of capacity per node, for scalability up to 52.8TB of deduplicated capacity in a single grid, EMC said.
EMC Avamar 5.0 uses a capacity-based licensing model, instead of a per-seat license fee. For more information, go here.