HP StoreOnce VSA Software-Defined Storage Solution

Spending on cloud-based backup-as-a-service offerings is expected to grow more than 14% worldwide through 2017 for SMB customers.(1) At the same time, the two most commonly cited business initiatives impacting IT spending were cost reduction and risk management.(2) This presents an opportunity for service providers and enterprises to fundamentally change how they address the cost of data protection at small sites and in virtualized environments.

Organizations need an open data protection solution that eliminates the need for dedicated hardware at small sites, works with multiple backup software products, and can be centrally managed using the same tools and processes across all locations and backup methodologies

The new StoreOnce Virtual Storage Appliance (VSA) from Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. is a hardware-agnostic, software-defined storage solution deployed as a VM on existing industry-standard server infrastructure.

It reduces capital expense by up to 65% compared to dedicated backup appliances, and is a scalable deduplication virtual appliance.(3) Because it runs the same software as the physical StoreOnce appliances, the StoreOnce VSA shares the same advanced data services including cross-family replication, backup application integration for performance and control, and federated deduplication. This allows customers to maintain efficiency across the enterprise. The addition of this new software-defined data protection solution to the HP Converged Storage portfolio makes StoreOnce a deduplication technology that can be deployed in four locations – a target appliance, media server, application source and VM.(4)

Increased revenue opportunities
with Backup as a Service
Many small businesses are looking to cloud-based IT services to reduce investment in on-premises equipment. Many service providers and channel partners servicing this segment have started delivering hosted backup and DR services to meet this demand.

The StoreOnce VSA enables service providers to deliver data protection services at a lower cost to SMB customers. Deploying StoreOnce VSA software at the customer site, and then backing up data to StoreOnce VSA at a central location, eliminates the need to purchase, deploy and manage dedicated hardware. This efficient multitenant capability offers new revenue opportunities to server providers, while leveraging their existing server farm investments.

Reduces costs and consolidates remote backup
For an enterprise tasked with protecting data at its remote sites, the cost and complexity of managing physical backup hardware spread across a large number of locations can be daunting. StoreOnce VSA cuts storage costs and reduces complexity by eliminating the need for dedicated backup hardware in small sites, dropping space requirements up to 50% and power costs up to 70%, when compared to the nearest competing physical backup system.(5)

StoreOnce VSA, together with StoreOnce Catalyst, eliminates complexity by enabling customers to manage remote backup and replication, as well as local data center backup, from a centralized location. Unlike competing software-based backup solutions, the StoreOnce VSA works with an array of ISVs and can restore data from the local VSA backup or across the network from the DR site.

The StoreOnce Enterprise Manager is a centralized console that enhances the customer experience by monitoring all StoreOnce backup appliances, physical and virtual. This enables administrators to view current backup performance, capacity utilization and deduplication ratios, as well as the historical performance of backup and replication jobs via a single interface.

Eliminating wasted capacity and bandwidth
across multiple backup deployment types
As the newest member of the StoreOnce family, the StoreOnce VSA extends HP’s federated deduplication vision to virtualized remote offices and service provider environments. With federated deduplication, data is deduplicated once using a single technology, without being rehydrated or uncompacted in as it moves between different StoreOnce based systems.(6)

StoreOnce VSA and StoreOnce Catalyst has been integrated with Data Protector to provide deduplication at the application source, backup server or target system, enabling organizations to choose where to deduplicate data in the backup process. It is also integrated with ISV applications, including NetBackup and Backup Exec for deduplication on the backup server. Further, this integration provides administrators with consolidated data protection via a single point of control for deduplication, backup and recovery and DR operations.

Based on technology from HP Labs, StoreOnce solutions leverage the same algorithm for ubiquitous deduplication across application servers, backup servers, target hardware appliances and VSAs. This reduces management and allows data to be backed up and replicated between deployments in a deduplicated state to lower capacity and network costs.

Pricing and availability
The StoreOnce VSA is expected to be available in late July worldwide directly from HP as well as from authorized channel partners with a list price of $3,500 for 10TB of capacity.

(1) AMI-Partners, SMB cloud & Storage Partner Opportunity, January 2013.
(2) Source: ESG Research Report: 2013 IT Spending Intentions Survey, January 2013
(3) Based on HP internal comparative analysis of publicly available data from major competitors.
(4) Taneja Group, June 2013, StoreOnce Boldly Goes Where No Deduplication Has Gone Before.
(5) Based on HP comparisons of publicly available data on HP StoreOnce VSA and EMC Data Domain 160 data sheets.
(6) Edison Group, HP B6200 StoreOnce whitepaper, November 2011.