Riverbed and NetApp Show Advanced Data Replication

Riverbed Technology and NetApp announced dramatic performance results that show Riverbed’s
Steelhead WDS appliances accelerate customer WAN performance of
NetApp ReplicatorX software while reducing WAN bandwidth. Through
testing, the companies found that with Steelhead appliances, an initial
replication operation performed by ReplicatorX finished 66 times faster
with a 98% decrease in bandwidth utilization. In addition, subsequent
incremental replication operations ran 75 times faster.

The
results demonstrate that NetApp and Riverbed® provide enterprise
customers with proven, high-performance data replication solutions to
meet their most stringent recovery point objectives (RPOs) while
reducing their networking infrastructure costs. Together, the two
companies are providing enterprises with a solution to build robust
disaster recovery plans and provide resiliency of mission-critical
corporate data, including enterprise resource planning (ERP); online
transaction processing (OLTP); and financial, legal, and medical
records, in both the data center and remote data centers.

The Double-Edged-Sword Challenge
Customers typically face two challenges when assessing their
replication needs. The first is managing data replication and recovery
across heterogeneous infrastructures while avoiding added complexity.
NetApp ReplicatorX helps customers to cost-effectively and easily
replicate block data across any vendor’s storage architecture (Fibre
Channel SAN, IP SAN, DAS, or internal disk) that may be attached to any
server (Windows, UNIX, Linux, or virtual machines). ReplicatorX also
replicates data across any distance using an existing IP network. The
NetApp replication solution reduces management complexity and provides
cost-effective, tiered disaster recovery, enabling rapid recovery of an
up-to-the-second replica of production data. ReplicatorX can also
replicate production data from any vendor’s storage system to a NetApp
storage system for rapid, cost-effective creation of clones for
application development and testing with NetApp FlexClone technology.
Customers can also reduce the downtime and disruption typically
associated with data migration projects across heterogeneous
infrastructures using ReplicatorX.

The
second challenge is meeting stringent recovery point objectives for
mission-critical applications without significantly increasing network
infrastructure costs, as well as insufficient bandwidth at remote
sites. Riverbed WDS solutions add value by improving replication
performance between data centers and remote offices up to 100 times.
Riverbed’s award-winning Steelhead WDS products enable companies to
consolidate IT, improve backup and replication processes to ensure data
integrity, and improve staff productivity and collaboration.

The
power behind the WDS solutions is the Riverbed Optimization System
(RiOS), which accelerates applications and data through a combination
of data reduction, TCP optimization, and application-level protocol
optimizations. RiOS provides data streamlining, transport streamlining,
application streamlining, and management streamlining, eliminating up
to 98% of a company’s replication traffic on the WAN. These
technologies, along with RiOS management capabilities, provide a
comprehensive solution for enterprise WDS.

“NetApp and
Riverbed are delivering to customers a solution that reduces data loss
exposure to help get their businesses back up and running with minimal
loss in productivity, should an event impacting their production
infrastructure occur,” said Eric Wolford, senior vice president,
Marketing and Business Development at Riverbed.

“NetApp is
pleased to continue working closely with Riverbed to provide a
comprehensive replication and recovery solution and help enterprises
meet their most stringent business continuity service level agreements
within limited budgets,” said Yoram Novick, vice president and general
manager of the Data Replication business unit at NetApp.

Network Appliance 

Riverbed Technology