Arkeia Extends Kadena’s De-Dupe to Backup Appliances

Arkeia Software,Inc. announced an upgrade to provide source-side Progressive Deduplication for all backup appliances shipped since July 2007.  

The firmware upgrade will deliver all the new features in Network Backup Version 9.0 including two-phase backups for shorter backup windows, agent-side AES-256 encryption for maximum security, and enhancements to the Web user interface for improved ease-of-use.

Source-side Deduplication
for Network Efficient Backups
As data volumes grow, mid-size companies need to backup more data without lengthening the backup window. Arkeia’s Progressive Deduplication accelerates backups, reducing the investment in network performance otherwise needed to accommodate shortened backup windows. Source-side deduplication compresses backup data on the client machine before the backup set is moved across the LAN or SAN. Ideal for remote offices, Arkeia’s deduplication is ‘global’ because each unique block is stored only once, whether one or all clients use that block

By reducing the volume of stored data, this appliance firmware update lets administrators extend the life of current appliances used for backup-to-disk.

Appliances Protects
Both Virtual and Physical Environments
Arkeia has offered a range of backup appliances since July 2007. Eight models of backup appliance are currently available, all configured with internal RAID-1 or RAID-5 disk storage. Appliance connectivity includes Ethernet, Fibre Channel, SCSI, SAS, and eSATA.  

Arkeia offers virtual machine disk image backups for all the major virtual environments, including agents for VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V. Because Arkeia also offers agents for over 200 physical platforms, Arkeia is for firms in transition to virtual environments or using mixed physical/virtual environments.
 
Cloud for Off-site Data Protection
Arkeia appliances offer three alternatives for off-site data protection, a critical feature of any enterprise-grade data protection solution:

• First, three of Arkeia’s eight appliance models include an embedded LTO tape drive.  
• Second, all appliances offer connectivity for external tape devices and libraries.  
• Third, administrators can configure Arkeia appliances to replicate backup sets to private data centers or to public cloud service providers, such as Nirvanix and Amazon. 

"Arkeia has crafted a fully-integrated backup appliance solution ideal for mid-sized companies and remote offices," said Bill Evans, CEO of Arkeia Software. "The Arkeia appliances have been vetted by years of successful deployments in Europe and the USA.  Having introduced backup hardware appliances in 2007, and virtual appliances in 2008, we’re gratified that the industry continues to move in our direction.  We believe that high data compression rates made possible by our advanced Progressive Deduplication technology give us a significant advantage over competitors as mid-sized companies adopt the model of backup-to-appliance, replicate-to-cloud."

Availability and Pricing
Arkeia Network Backup v9.0 firmware for Arkeia appliances is scheduled for availability in June, 2011. The v9.0 firmware is available at no charge to customers under current maintenance contracts, though the source-side deduplication feature is licensed separately at €1,500 ($2,000) – and at €900 in promotion during May 2011 – per appliance.