Backup software vendor Arkeia this week acquired Kadena Systems, a developer of block-grain, content-aware, sliding-window data deduplication technology. Arkeia plans to integrate the technology into the 9.0 version of its flagship Arkeia Network Backup software in early 2010.
Kadena claims more than 6,000 customers, and has been selling its PocketCache and DeltaBack software into consumer markets. The company has had an OEM agreement with SanDisk since mid-2004.
According to Arkeia CEO Bill Evans, there are three potential advantages to Kadena’s approach to source-side data deduplication: reduced bandwidth for backup operations, higher compression ratios, and faster backups and deduplication speeds.
In Kadena’s deduplication implementation, the sliding window is adjustable based on content type (“content aware” deduplication), which can lead to higher compression ratios. The technology also uses progressive-matching algorithms to identify known blocks, which accelerates the deduplication process. And source-side, content-aware deduplication can lead to a reduction in the network bandwidth required for backups.
According to end-user research conducted by the Enterprise Strategy Group, cost, ease of integration and use, and performance are the top factors for selecting data deduplication solutions.
Frank Basanta, director of technology at TriStaff Employment Services, uses Arkeia’s backup software and appliances and plans to deploy Arkeia’s new deduplication software as soon as the production version is available. Basanta is currently in the process of testing the deduplication software. TriStaff backs up about a terabyte of data, in four hours, every night.
“We like the fact that Arkeia’s deduplication technology will be integrated into their backup software, as opposed to using a bolt-on product,” says Basanta. “And we like source-side deduplication because of the backup speed advantages, and we don’t want to waste any capacity.
Users will be able to deploy Arkeia’s technology as a software-only solution or on physical appliances or virtual appliances. The initial implementation is on the source side (inline deduplication), but Arkeia plans to offer a target-side (post-processing deduplication) implementation later in 2010.
Arkeia plans to target virtual server environments, which benefit most from data deduplication because of the large amount of duplicated data. The company’s dedupe technology can be deployed directly on a hypervisor.
Kadena CTO Tamir Ram is now Arkeia’s chief architect. Ram was formerly with Veritas, NetFrame and Auspex, and was also the original engineering team leader at Data Domain. Ram holds several patents in data protection and networking.
