Evaluator Group Report on Sepaton Data Protection Platform

SEPATON, Inc. announced the results of an independent study by Evaluator Group, Inc. titled, Enterprise Data Protection: Scale versus Sprawl. This report analyzes the cost of scaling a single image, disk-based backup system versus deploying multiple systems to handle data growth and concludes a scalable, single image architecture like SEPATON’s advanced V6 data protection platform provides maximum TCO and eliminates significant cost and complexity associated with multi-system ‘sprawl.’

"We believe that, when selecting a platform, one of the primary considerations should be the ability to scale performance and capacity independently in a single image system versus adding multiple system images to accommodate growth," said John Webster, principal analyst, Evaluator Group. "Storage administrators are almost certain to see dramatic growth for capacity and performance in backup volume organically and through acquisition. High performance is a requirement as it assures reliable, centralized protection and Symantec’s OpenStorage (OST) adoption using 10GbE connectivity is driving the need for a disk-based backup target like SEPATON’s that is able to scale performance."

First-Hand User Experience
Evaluator Group interviewed storage architects who evaluated both architectural options and concluded:

• Using multiple backup systems instead of a single scalable system resulted in less efficient capacity optimization because deduplication comparisons are only performed within each system.
• Managing backup across multiple systems adds costly management complexity and administrative labor;
• With the addition of each limited-scalability system, a significant amount of load balancing and ongoing system tuning was required to overcome the innate inefficiency of the multi-system environment;
• To add performance or capacity without a scalable solution, enterprises must incur the unnecessary cost of adding an entire system including controllers, power supplies, as well as disk.

There were many other reported cost factors associated with a limited-scaling system. Some include the capital acquisition cost of the new system; additional connectivity and bandwidth requirements; initial implementation costs and labor and training for each new system; management tracking of assets; increased cost of security; and many more. Finally, adding more systems to the data protection environment makes it more difficult to manage data retention periods.

The SEPATON Architectural Advantage
The Evaluator Group report looks at the SEPATON V6 platform powered by its DeltaScale architecture that can be scaled in un-deduplicated data capacity to 1.6 PB contained within a single image by adding disk, and from two to eight 4Gb Fibre Channel nodes. In addition to concurrent deduplication and compression, SEPATON’s clustered grid architecture can be used to reduce cost of remote replication for disaster recovery.

Evaluator Group asserts that system sprawl can double and even triple the cost of implementing disk-based data protection projects and reduce reliability, reporting and management. According to the report, the SEPATON architecture should allow IT administrators to extract maximum value from an investment in a disk-based data protection system. It will also enable IT to forgo all the costs associated with adding more system images for much longer than those of systems without the ability to accommodate the kind of rapid growth observed in enterprise data centers. The report concludes that scalability in terms of capacity and performance of a disk-based backup system is critical to long-term total cost of ownership consideration.

"Companies are spending much more than necessary, absorbing too much risk with their restore process, and adding more complexity to their backups than needed," said Greg Mancusi-Ungaro, vice president of marketing, SEPATON, Inc. "As the Evaluator Group concludes, SEPATON’s massively scalable, high performing data protection platform offers a superior underlying architecture that delivers measurable advantages compared to single image systems. SEPATON is the logical choice for today’s enterprise data protection environments."