Storage Software Eliminates Duplicate Information, Frees Up Space

Compiled ByTraci Purdum Avamar Technologies Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based provider of secondary storage solutions, has introduced Axion -- a backup software/hardware combination that eliminates duplicate copies of information. The benefit: much less storage space is needed to back up corporate data. Axion uses hard-disk storage to deliver online accessibility for all protected data while the software reduces the amount of data stored and moved over networks by up to 99%. To do this, the software finds small, logical sequences in files, objects and databases and stores each unique logical sequence only once across the entire enterprise. To identify and eliminate redundancy, Axion uses a Content Addressed Storage (CAS) architecture that can be used to refer to repeated data elements. "The Axion CAS implementation really eliminates the challenges associated with today's enterprise tape implementations," says W. Curtis Preston, analyst and founder of The Storage Group, a Oceanside, Calif.-based storage-system consulting firm. "Its no-overwrite architecture verifies data integrity during the backup process, and the system verifies data for every restore as well. This is particularly important in industries where regulatory requirements demand the ability to restore authenticated data from archives."