We are headed into a new frontier of IT at warp speed and as a result the data protection landscape is evolving. The amount and types of data that need to be protected are dramatically different from just a few years ago. In addition to traditional data sources growing at an increasingly fast pace, the digital age has led to the rise of new data sources that are varied and complex. And, while all of this data keeps growing, the amount of time and resources you have to protect it are shrinking. With so much change happening, trying to protect all of this data using traditional methods is – as Spock would say – highly illogical.
Over the past decade, Purpose built backup appliances (PBBAs) greatly increased business efficiency by eliminating the reliance on tape-based backups and dramatically reduced storage requirements with deduplication technology. While revolutionary for their time, PBBA’s are not optimized to address the new and emerging data protection challenges of today and tomorrow. In order to do that you need protection storage, which transcends the boundaries of traditional backup and sets the foundation for the future.
What exactly do I mean when I say “protection storage”? Well, traditional PBBAs were built to integrate with a backup application and focused simply on protecting data like files, emails and databases on premise and within the data center. Protection storage, on the other hand, is designed to protect your ENTIRE environment including mainframe, IBM i and emerging data sources such as Big Data. This data can be protected across consumption models no matter where it lives from on premise to born in the cloud using leading backup and archiving applications. And, with protection storage, it is protected in the most efficient way possible, which could mean backing up directly from an enterprise application (like Oracle or SQL) or directly from primary storage.
So, how can this actually be achieved? These are the voyages of Data Domain software, its mission: to ensure all data is protected wherever it lives, no matter what happens and boldly go where no PBBA has gone before.
Specifically, Data Domain has four categories of software that redefine protection. First is the foundational software that has enabled Data Domain to create and lead the market over the past 12 years – this includes unique capabilities of DD OS like the Data Domain Data Invulnerability Architecture as well as specialized software options such as DD Boost, DD Replicator, DD Encryption and more. Second is the software that enables Data Domain to directly integrate with enterprise applications like Oracle, SAP and SQL using DD Boost for Enterprise Apps. Third, announced last year is the industry-first storage integrated data protection with EMC ProtectPoint. And finally, EMC recently announced Project Falcon, a preview of software-only protection storage, which is designed to provide the power of Data Domain software wherever you need it. This will enable the quick and easy deployment of the industry-leading Data Domain software in a variety of new deployment models for the ultimate in flexibility, including: remote office protection, cloud providers offering data protection as a service, storage integrated data protection and web scale protection storage.
Data Domain software is what enables true protection storage, which is intelligent, open, and cloud-ready. May protection storage help your business live long and prosper!
