BakBone unveils new archiving product

BakBone has launched its latest product, NetVault Archiving.

Unveiled at Storage Networking World (SNW) in Frankfurt, the next generation archiving solution is aimed at clearing up tier one storage while keeping data easily accessible to a company's users.

Rather than having separate data pools for different departments, NetVault Archive allows users in several locations back up to one system through automated processes This is then easily searchable for businesses who need to comply with regulations and also analyse the data they have.

"Customers say they want to create a repository," said Andrew Brewerton, BakBone's technical director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). "Rather than just lifting [data] off and storing it on tape for seven years, actually what we are building up here is a business asset."

The product single instances data at file level ensuring two copies are made, but also eliminates the problem of over duplicated files. The data is also encrypted to the company's specifications.

Once the business has set a policy for how long they wish to keep the data, NetVault Archive has a "shredding" process to destroy the data adhering to regulations.

The product is compatible with a range of hardware offerings although the company has yet to bring out an integrated version.

Archiving is becoming more important as more unstructured data is being created within businesses.

Carla Arend, an analyst with IDC, said at the briefing: "The big problem [is] unstructured content... growing at 50 per cent per year. Emails [are an example] but also most importantly file shares with word documents, excel files and increasingly video and pictures."

"Many companies start with email archiving... but [the] next big step they will take is file archiving. It is growing really fast and get out of control very quickly."

She praised BakBone's release, saying it was one of the first next generation products to be brought to market.

"If we look at the market we find in 2008 the archiving market grew 10.5 per cent in Europe and we still forecast six per cent growth in 2009," she said. "The archiving market as a segment growing really fast."

NetVault Archive will begin shipping before the end of the year costing between $4,000 and $8,5000 per terabyte.