SEPATON issued a press release on Monday that is worth mentioning here on the blog. SearchStorage also published a related article here. The release highlights MultiCare a SEPATON customer that uses DeltaStor deduplication software in a two-node VTL.
In the release, the customer characterizes their testing of solutions from Diligent/IBM (now IBM TS7650G) and Data Domain. Specifically, they mention that the TS7650G was difficult to configure and get running and that the gateway head nature of the product also made it difficult for them to scale capacity. These difficulties illustrate the challenges of implementing the TS7650G’s head only design. With this solution, the burden of integrating and managing the deduplication software and disk subsystem falls on the end user. Contrast this with a SEPATON appliance that manages the entire device in a fully integrated, completely automated fashion.
They had a typical Data Domain experience. That is, their initial purchase looked simple and cost effective but rapidly become complex and costly. In this case, MultiCare hit the Data Domain scalability wall, requiring them to purchase multiple separate units. The result is that MultiCare had to perform two costly upgrades and had to rip and replace their Data Domain solutions with newer, faster units. Scalability is the challenge with Data Domain solutions and it is not uncommon for customers to purchase one unit to meet their initial needs and then be forced to add additional units or perform a forklift upgrade.
As MultiCare found, customers must thoroughly understand their requirements when considering deduplication solutions. They tested the head-only approach and found it to be too complex to operate and manage to meet their needs. They tried the small appliance approach and found that they outgrew their initial system and were forced to pursue costly upgrades. In the end, they recognized that the best solution for their environment was a highly scalable S2100-ES2 solution which provided the performance and scalability that could not be achieved with either the TS7650G or Data Domain.