ESG Evaluated Quantum’s Disk Backup DXi

Quantum Corp. announced the results of industry analyst firm Enterprise Strategy Group‘s (ESG) evaluation of a suite of Quantum disk backup solutions for distributed data protection.

ESG’s testing demonstrated that the combination of inline data deduplication, performance, and scalability – accompanied by comprehensive storage management and services – optimises data protection and recovery for distributed enterprises.
 
ESG Lab configured, automated and tracked the protection and migration of enterprise data using Quantum disk and tape products, with Quantum DXi 2.1 software at the foundation.

Quantum products tested included:

• DXi8500 Enterprise deduplication and backup appliance, with DXi Accent software
• for optimising remote backups from media servers using OST, and the DXi Advanced Reporting feature
• DXi4601 deduplication and backup appliance with capacity-on-demand
• DXi V1000 virtual deduplication and backup appliance
• Scalar i6000 enterprise tape library
• vmPRO software for backup, restore and disaster recovery in virtual environments
• Vision management software

Key findings:

• Comprehensive Enterprise Solution: Found the DXi family of disk backup systems, including the DXi4601 and the DXi V1000, integrated tightly with Symantec NetBackup with OST, offering a robust data protection solution for large enterprises.
• Enterprise Performance: The DXi8500 sustained a multi-threaded enterprise backup at 10.9 TB/hour, exceeding the aggregate backup throughput published by Quantum (8.8 TB/hour).
• Integration with Symantec’s NetBackup OST API: Was able to use NetBackup to manage backup data through its entire lifecycle – from a remote office backup, replicated to a data center, then moved to tape via the integrated path-to-tape feature for long-term retention.
• Simple, Effective Data Protection for Remote or Branch Offices: DXi Accent proved to be a simple, effective solution for the protection of valuable information assets residing in remote and branch offices, while optimising for moderate-bandwidth, high-latency links.
• Intelligent Backup and Replication for Virtual Environments: Used vmPRO software and the DXi V1000 to protect virtual machines in branch and remote offices and replicate their backups to a central data centre.
• Detailed Monitoring and Reporting: Vision software provided enhanced multi-site monitoring and reporting on capacity utilisation, deduplication savings, and backup and replication performance over time, as well as a single point of management for Quantum disk and tape backup infrastructure.

Tony Palmer, senior ESG Lab analyst, said: "Quantum has followed its strong lineage and produced an impressive suite of solutions to protect data in the largest physical and virtual data centers and the smallest remote offices. Quantum’s DXi family offers a wide variety of configurations to satisfy a range of SLAs in a single solution, which can be used to dramatically increase the role of disk in the protection of critical data. Comprehensive infrastructure management and capacity planning provided by Quantum Vision ties the global environment together into a single, manageable entity. In sum, Quantum has set the standard for a complete, robust, and integrated data protection solution."

Simon Jelly, director of Product Management, Symantec Corp., said: "Quantum’s integration of the DXi-Series appliances with NetBackup OpenStorage provides a very powerful, yet flexible solution for customers focused on deploying new backup or disaster recovery architectures. The OpenStorage API allows our joint customers to deploy advanced Quantum hardware integrated with NetBackup, dramatically improving data protection."

John Woodall, VP of Engineering, Integrated Archive Systems, said: "The DXi-Series delivers superior price-performance and the best absolute performance available today, and the path-to-tape feature is a clear advantage. Quantum Vision software provides a level of monitoring and reporting that Enterprises clearly value. It’s because of advantages like these that IAS has successfully partnered with Quantum for the last 15 years."

Robert Clark, SVP, Data Protection Group, Quantum, said: "IT departments continue to place improved backup and recovery and increased use of server virtualization at the top of their priority lists. ESG has validated the feature-rich, flexible approach to physical and virtual data protection that Quantum’s portfolio offers customers."
 

Copy of ESG’s report, Quantum DXi 2.1 Disk Backup Solution: Total Protection for the Distributed Enterprise