ExaGrid Announces New Software Version 5.2.2

ExaGrid ^®, a leading provider of intelligent hyperconverged storage for backup with data deduplication, today announced a new version of its software, Version 5.2.2, which offers a variety of enhancements for customers. ExaGrid has always achieved a market leading deduplication ratio of 20:1 on average along with the majority of the market share backup applications. ExaGrid has now taken its deduplication algorithm to new heights for Veeam VM backup data, changed block tracking (CBT) and incrementals forever, in addition to supporting Windows Active Directory and Veritas NetBackup Accelerator.

The new features include:

• Improved data deduplication for Veeam Software
• Improved data deduplication for CBT and incremental backups
• Ability to further deduplicate Commvault deduplicated data
• Support of Windows Active Directory
• Support of Veritas NetBackup Accelerator

Improved Data Deduplication for Veeam Software
Veeam Software is an ExaGrid alliance and technology partner. ExaGrid deduplication works with and allows Veeam deduplication and Veeam “dedupe friendly” compression to be enabled as a best practice. The combination of Veeam’s deduplication and “dedupe friendly” compression, along with ExaGrid’s deduplication can now achieve a combined deduplication ratio of up to 14:1 for VM backups. ExaGrid has always deduplicated Veeam data, however, it has improved its algorithms to offer a much higher deduplication ratio. ExaGrid now offers the best of both worlds with linear scalability and advanced deduplication that is the best in the industry including Dell EMC Data Domain. ExaGrid is the only solution that further deduplicates Veeam deduplicated data as well as stores the most recent backup in the Veeam native format for the fastest VM boots available. Veeam can boot a VM from ExaGrid in seconds to minutes versus hours for deduplication appliances such as Dell EMC Data Domain that only store deduplicated data, which requires data rehydration for each request. ExaGrid stores long-term deduplicated retention data in a repository, which is separate from the Landing Zone for storage efficiency.

Improved Data Deduplication for CBT and Incremental Backups
ExaGrid’s new deduplication algorithm improves deduplication ratios over its previous version for backup applications that use CBT or incremental backups. ExaGrid supports 25+ backup applications and utilities - the majority of which utilize CBT to make backups more efficient.

Ability to Further Deduplicate Commvault Deduplicated Data
ExaGrid now allows Commvault customers to keep Commvault deduplication enabled and use ExaGrid target storage. ExaGrid will further deduplicate the Commvault deduplicated data and will improve the deduplication ratio by a factor of 3X up to a combined deduplication ratio of 20:1. With Commvault deduplication, DASH fulls and DASH copies can now be enabled for more efficient backups and retention management.

ExaGrid is cost-effective for Commvault customers who keep weekly, monthly, and yearly backup retention copies. ExaGrid is far less expensive than low-cost disk, as ExaGrid uses far less disk by further deduplicating the Commvault deduplicated data. In addition, ExaGrid brings linear scalability (scale-out architecture) to allow customers to simply add appliances as data grows. This approach of adding compute with capacity keeps the backup window fixed in length as data grows.

Support of Windows Active Directory
ExaGrid’s graphical user interface (GUI) was designed with simplicity in mind. To further simplify user experience, Windows Active Directory domain credentials can now be used to control access to the ExaGrid management interface, providing authentication and authorization to the web GUI. This allows IT staff to access the ExaGrid web-based management interface and, in addition, target share access control for CIFS or the Veeam Data Mover.

Support of Veritas NetBackup Accelerator
Veritas’ NetBackup Accelerator technology dramatically shortens backup windows by sending only changes for both incremental and accelerated full backups, synthesizing the full backup from previous changes using the OST interface. ExaGrid can take in and deduplicate NetBackup Accelerator data and, in addition, ExaGrid reconstitutes the accelerated backup into its Landing Zone so that the ExaGrid system is ready to quickly restore data, as well as provide instant VM boots and fast offsite tape copies—a unique and exclusive feature. In contrast, all inline deduplication appliances only store deduplicated data. When a restore, VM boot, tape copy, etc. is requested, a lengthy data rehydration process must occur.

“ExaGrid’s newest features further differentiate ExaGrid from its competition,” said Bill Andrews, President and CEO of ExaGrid. “We continue to innovate and push the envelope on deduplication efficiency, backup performance, restore performance, and linear scalability to drive up productivity while driving down cost.”

ExaGrid Solves Challenges of Traditional Backup Appliances
ExaGrid offers a unique and innovative approach to backup storage for long-term retention environments. ExaGrid realized that simply adding inline deduplication into backup applications or scale-up storage appliances, while reducing the cost of backup storage, also breaks the backup performance, restore performance, and scalability. Deduplication is extremely compute intensive and when performed during the backup window, it will slow backups down. Other backup appliances store only deduplicated data, causing restore requests, VM boots, offsite tape copies, etc. to take hours, because the data needs to be rehydrated.

ExaGrid has solved the challenges of using traditional backup storage systems, which use inline deduplication and scale-up architecture. ExaGrid offers the only zone-level deduplication that uses similarity detection versus exact block matching, and couples its deduplication approach with an architecture built for backup deduplication storage. Its unique Landing Zone allows backups to write directly to disk without being deduplicated, which is 3X faster than inline deduplication. The most recent backups are stored in an undeduplicated native backup format ready to be restored, booted, copied, etc. as there is no data rehydration process. A scale-out storage architecture is used in order to add compute with capacity, resulting in a fixed-length backup window as data grows, the elimination of expensive and disruptive forklift upgrades, as well the elimination of forced product obsolescence.

ExaGrid’s published customer success stories and enterprise stories number over 360, more than all other vendors in the space combined. These stories demonstrate how satisfied customers are with ExaGrid’s unique architectural approach, differentiated product, and unrivalled customer support. Customers consistently state that not only is the product best-in-class, but ‘it just works.’

About ExaGrid
ExaGrid provides intelligent hyperconverged storage for backup with data deduplication, a unique Landing Zone, and scale-out architecture. ExaGrid’s Landing Zone provides for the fastest backups, restores, and instant VM recoveries. Its scale-out architecture includes full appliances in a scale-out system and ensures a fixed-length backup window as data grows, eliminating expensive forklift upgrades. Visit us at exagrid.com or connect with us on LinkedIn. See what our customers have to say about their own ExaGrid experiences and why they now spend significantly less time on backup.

ExaGrid is a registered trademark of ExaGrid Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

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Contact information

Stacey Foster
ExaGrid
sfoster@exagrid.com
508-898-2872 x0248