ExaGrid Systems, Inc. announced that it is the first vendor to offer a complete line of disk backup appliances with data deduplication at a cost that approaches tape backup systems. This advances ExaGrid’s ongoing drive to deliver all of the benefits of disk backup with data deduplication while making its cost comparable to tape. ExaGrid’s new lower pricing model is ideal for mid-market and small enterprise companies who are struggling with the challenges of tape backup and want to transition to disk backup with deduplication but haven’t yet made the move because of cost concerns.

Comparing Tape Backup
to ExaGrid Disk Backup with Deduplication:
ExaGrid backup systems are designed to meet the needs of companies backing-up between 1TB and 100TBs of data. For comparison purposes, the list pricing of 5 TB and 10TB ExaGrid systems – which hold a 5TB or 10TB full backup plus 16 weeks of retention – is $42,900 and $69,900 respectively, with discounts available from ExaGrid’s global network of value added resellers. ExaGrid delivers all the performance, reliability and security benefits of backing up to disk, at a cost that approaches the price of legacy tape libraries and tapes.

The Benefits of Using ExaGrid
to Transition to Disk Backup with Deduplication:

• No Change to Existing Backup Processes: ExaGrid uses customers’ existing backup application, so users simply point backup jobs to the ExaGrid system (NAS target) instead of a tape library.
• Shorter Backup Windows: Customers report a 30 to 90 percent reduction in backup time, and can remain within or shrink their existing backup windows.
• Elimination of Failed Backups and Failed Restores: ExaGrid disk-based backup is far more reliable than tape and provides for rapid restoration of data.
• Faster Disaster Recovery (DR): ExaGrid customers can back up data to an offsite location via ExaGrid’s WAN-efficient second site replication and recover it quickly via the offsite system’s unique 'Instant-DR' capabilities.
• Higher Security: With ExaGrid, data remains within the data center’s physical and network security and not on tapes that get moved frequently, misplaced or lost.
• Less Time Spent on Backup, More Time for Other Critical IT Areas: ExaGrid is easy to install and manage and frees up IT time with automated reports and a unified management console.

“The ExaGrid system has had a major positive impact on our backups versus the tape-based backup that constantly let us down,” said Paul Martin, IT Manager for Poulin Grain, supplier of animal feeds in the Northeastern US. “There’s such a small delta in the cost of an ExaGrid system compared to a new tape library and tapes that it was an easy decision to move to ExaGrid’s disk backup with deduplication and gain all the benefits of high-speed disk, and far greater reliability for our backups.”

ExaGrid’s Price and Performance Leadership:

• Highest Performance and Scalability: The only vendor with a scalable GRID based architecture which maintains a short backup window as data grows and doesn’t force customers into forklift upgrades to increase capacity and performance.
• Backup Job Aware Reporting: The only vendor in the mid-market to small enterprise with backup job aware reporting which allows customers to maximize their deduplication benefit and lower costs.
• Real-world Customer Successes: Thousands of installed systems and more than 140 customer success stories - more than all other disk-based backup with deduplication vendors combined.
• Most Cost-Effective Deployments: ExaGrid prides itself on providing a high performance product available at the very best prices in the industry.

“We’ve spoken with many thousands of companies and IT departments over the years and understand the challenges they face backing up critical corporate data to legacy tape based systems,” said Bill Hobbib, VP of Marketing for ExaGrid. “They’re eager to gain the benefits of a disk-backup system with deduplication like ExaGrid, but often struggle to understand how the cost of such systems fit into their operational budgets. With this new pricing model, ExaGrid has enabled the adoption of disk backup with deduplication for many companies who may not have considered it before because of cost constraints. The ExaGrid system delivers all the performance, reliability and security benefits of backing up to disk, with little to no cost delta versus performing backup with legacy tape-based backup approaches.”

About ExaGrid’s Technology:
The ExaGrid system is a turnkey, plug-and-play solution that works with existing backup applications and enables faster and more reliable backups and restores. Customers report that backup time is reduced by 30 to 90 percent over traditional tape backup. ExaGrid’s patented byte-level data deduplication technology and most recent backup compression, coupled with high-quality SATA storage, reduces the amount of disk space needed by a range of 10:1 to as high as 50:1, or more, resulting in a price that’s the same or often less than traditional tape-based backup.