Data Domain makes data storage more efficient and affordable.
From its inception, Data Domain has helped customers reduce or eliminate the use of tape infrastructures with a very efficient disk- and network-based data protection alternative. Today, Data Domain customers are expanding the use of their systems to include a broad range of nearline workloads and use cases beyond data protection. In essence, Data Domain's file system technology represents a new generation of data versioning and replication efficiency. Data Domain's strategy is to continue bringing new storage and network efficiencies to the enterprise data storage arena on a single, integrated product platform to improve storage economics and simplify data management for its customers.
How? Data deduplication.
Using the company's high-speed inline deduplication technology, Data Domain systems identify redundant files and data as they are being stored, creating a storage footprint that is up to 20x smaller than the original dataset. Originally an ideal solution for backup and disaster recovery applications, customers are now deploying Data Domain deduplication storage more broadly as a storage tier including nearline file storage, backup, disaster recovery (DR) and long term retention of enterprise data for reference, litigation support and regulatory compliance.
As enterprise data continues to expand exponentially, customers face the costly challenge of storing and managing all that information.
As the leading provider of deduplication storage systems, Data Domain helps enterprises continue to realize dramatic cost and efficiency improvements, minimize reliance upon tape technology and meet stringent DR guidelines.
Retain. Replicate. Recover.
Data Domain delivers the performance, reliability and scalability to address the nearline storage needs of enterprises across the globe. Its products include the award-winning DDX Array Series, Appliance Series and Gateway Series-each of which massively reduce data volume, reducing capacity requirements for online data retention. All Data Domain systems are simple to deploy and offer customers the flexibility of NAS or VTL (virtual tape library) interfaces.
As data is deduplicated, Data Domain Replicator software moves only the unique new data segments across the Wide Area Network (WAN), for DR, remote office data protection and multi-site tape consolidation. Replicated files are safely off-site and can now be recovered in seconds or minutes, without needing to locate, transport or mount a tape.
In addition, these systems offer advanced levels of continuous data verification and integrity through Data Domain's proprietary Data Invulnerability Architecture, which includes RAID-6 protection. These extra measures of protection are designed to ensure that stored data is accurate and recoverable.
Data Domain systems are compatible with the leading backup, archive and enterprise applications, so integration into existing infrastructures is fast and seamless.
Over 1,800 enterprise customers around the world have purchased Data Domain systems. Data Domain is traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol "DDUP" and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.
Compare Data Domain
Data Domain systems are designed to minimize tape for nearline applications such as backup, archiving and networked DR. Other categories of products are also designed for backup to disk, remote office backup, archiving or remote office WAN acceleration, but they have very different design goals and limitations. It is important to keep these in mind as you consider your options. While conventional VTLs, bandwidth optimizers, remote backup software and CAS systems all do what they are designed to do, they do not minimize tape across the distributed enterprise.
There are two kinds of deduplication: those that companies have put into production, and those that are simply not ready. Only Data Domain delivers a complete solution to tape minimization in the distributed enterprise. The differences are easy to find. More importantly, the results are easy to prove - ask for references from your industry before you make a commitment to any vendor.
Learn more about any of these common approaches to nearline storage:
Backup: Primary
Data at Site |
Approach |
Goals |
Limitations |
| > 200 TB |
Traditional VTL:
cache to Physical Tape Library (PTL) |
Risk management; don't unhook a big investment in tape infrastructure; per-system scale |
High cost for retention, and replication; built to augment tape not minimize it
Supports backup applications only, no other nearline uses |
| < 200 GB |
Bandwidth Optimization: WAFS / WDS / WAAS / . |
Move data to central data hub |
Slow restore speed over WAN only works for smaller sites Too expensive for very small sites |
| < 100 GB |
PC Replication, Remote/Branch Office (ROBO) backup |
Move protection data to central hub |
Rip/replace backup software, must support multiple applications
Does not scale up well
Silos of deduplication |
| Archive |
Content Addressed Storage (CAS) |
Disk archiving |
Too slow for backup / restore
Minimum support for backup applications |
Deduplication is a Storage Fundamental
It's obvious that Data Domain deduplication works - economically and operationally. You can see for yourself by asking a nearby customer. But it only works if it is part of the system's fundamental design. It's like color in a TV set - you can't really add it, you need a different design. It's the same with deduplication.
Adding dedupe as a secondary design element will reveal itself in elements of manageability, resilience, scalability and cost-efficiency. Test it, on your own, without the vendor's personnel trying to hide the problems. What you'll find are the seams; these systems do not provide simple, cost-effective tape minimization.
