LETN Solutions - Leading Edge Technology & Network Solutions
To put it simply, people at the sharp end of managing IT are having to think about how they use Data storage space. The current economic uncertainty is putting pressure on budgets everywhere, so making better use of space that is currently being used inefficiently is one way of making a saving… Alternatively buying new intelligent storage that allows you to deduplicate at the hardware level is another way of making that new storage project pay for itself quicker.
For example:
Symantec’s Enterprise Vault application is well known as an archiving and compliancy tool and has been in the leader and visionary square of Gartners Magic Quadrant report for some four years running. No mean feat considering the number of rival applications snapping at its heals.
One aspect of this product that is often overlooked as a “nice to have” is the de-duplication ability that is inherent to the file and mail archiving modules. It is often the case that over 30% of storage consumption is simply duplicate copies of files created by users…. (For instance, that 5MB presentation that the sales team keep making small changes to and then emailing out to each other! Every business has the same issue). Clawing this back by implementing an archiving policy helps you also take pressure off your mail & File servers as well as your backup solution. If you can extend the life of these systems by 12months it might just make this years budget workable?
The second aspect is when you are faced with a storage upgrade project that you know is underfunded (since the board made that last budget cut). You can try and limp on with your existing legacy kit and cross your fingers…. Or you can seek out a Vendor that can sell you less physical storage yet still meet your requirements. NetApp are offering exactly this with some fantastic single instancing tools based on their propriety WAFL file system. If your file storage is very duplicated then they are claiming savings of up to 95%. There is a great online tool for predicting the likely savings here…. Give it a try, if you like what you see then contact our NetApp sales team for further advice.
So to summarize:
Deduplication is a hot topic because money is tight and everyone is looking to stretch their budget this year.
If you have existing storage and are running short or are finding that your backups and mail servers are struggling then a good archiving tool with application driven single instancing might be the answer to all your woes.
If you are lucky enough to have some budget to spend on replacing your storage this year then looking at NetApp’s Single Instance technology could well make your investment pay for itself a whole lot faster.
LETN’s professinal services team are assisting our clients with their deduplication needs, if you think you could benefit from this concept then give us a call on 01189070070 we’ll be happy to discuss your requirements and give you an honest opinion on whether the above technology is right for you.
If you wish, we can give you a call to discuss your needs.