ICC 4 IT Blog

HP today announced new disk-based backup systems with data deduplication technology that increases disk utilization by up to 50 times⁽¹⁾ to deliver scalable solutions that reduce storage costs and protect business critical data.

Data deduplication technology eliminates redundant data from a disk storage device to lower storage space requirements. The technology enables customers to reduce floor space and lower energy consumption by decreasing storage capacity requirements. It also helps them minimize administrative overhead by retaining data on disk for longer periods of time.

HP provides two distinct methods of data deduplication to address the demands of customers of different sizes. For small and midsize (SMB) customers, HP has integrated this functionality into the HP StorageWorks D2D Backup Systems (D2D). For enterprise customers, HP offers deduplication with the HP StorageWorks Virtual Library Systems (VLS).

Forty-five percent⁽²⁾ more affordable than similar systems, “dynamic” deduplication in the HP D2D 2500 and 4000 systems change the economics of data protection for SMBs. Easy to deploy and simple to manage, these solutions provide SMBs and businesses with branch sites the assurance that their data is protected and can be quickly recovered.

“Accelerated” deduplication in the HP VLS offers fast data backups. Enterprise customers can improve business productivity with market-leading⁽³⁾ scalability and performance by easily adding disks and nodes as needed. These capabilities, coupled with reliable data recovery features, allow customers to create a data center environment that delivers 24/7 availability.

“Disk-based backup systems can enhance data protection for a business of any size. Integrating deduplication technologies allows customers to leverage up to 50 times more capacity to ensure their business has faster and reliable access to stored data,” said Dave Russell, vice president, Gartner. “Deduplication technology is poised to transform the backup and recovery marketplace.”

HP data deduplication technology for the VLS and D2D enables customers to automate and remotely manage the systems with low-bandwidth replication. This provides data center managers the ability to back up data remotely without manual intervention, thereby reducing staffing costs. Utilizing disk-based backup for remote locations reduces overhead by consolidating tape hardware into a single site.

“The ability to scale capacity and performance, coupled with affordability, provides customers of all sizes a capacity-efficient, disk-based backup system to meet their needs,” said Bob Wilson, vice president and general manager, Storage Platforms Division, HP StorageWorks. “HP continues to set new industry standards by investing in technology that delivers an ideal balance of price and performance for each customer segment.”

To provide data protection for micro and small businesses, HP also introduced the new HP StorageWorks RDX Removable Disk Backup Systems (RDX160 and RDX320). These disk backup solutions are easy to use and affordable, and they allow small businesses to store data off-site as part of their disaster recovery plan.

Store more for less

HP D2D Backup Systems emulate up to 16 LTO tape autoloaders or libraries and consolidate backup of up to 16 servers onto a single network-connected device.

Key benefits of D2D dynamic deduplication:

• Maximizes disk space via synchronous backup operations that deduplicate data as it is stored to the disk.
• Reduces the amount of disk and memory required to deduplicate data by leveraging proprietary technology created by HP Labs, the company’s central research and development arm.
• Improves productivity and eliminates the need for training with a fully functional graphical user interface that does not require complex command lines for configuration.
• Optimizes investment of primary backup system through compatibility with new versions of software and applications.

High performance, scalable protection

HP VLS emulates multiple tape libraries or drives for data centers to reliably back up large amounts of data with quick data restores in the event of a disaster.

Key benefits of VLS accelerated deduplication:

• Improves performance by deduplicating data after the backup has completed writing to the disk.
• Ensures scalability of performance and capacity by easily adding nodes, while providing a single backup location for data contained on multiple servers.
• Accelerates data restores by maintaining only the most recent copy of backup data while eliminating duplicate data from previous backups.
• Simplifies management with a user interface that automatically monitors itself, configures storage, load balances performance and conducts diagnostics.

More information about deduplication for HP D2D and VLS is available at www.hp.com/go/deduplication; more information on HP RDX Removable Disk Backup Systems is available at www.hp.com/go/RDX.

Pricing and availability⁽⁴⁾

The HP StorageWorks D2D 2500 and 4000 systems are available now, please contact I.C.C. Sales.

Accelerated deduplication is available for license with the HP StorageWorks VLS6600 and VLS9000 series and will be available in July. Licensing for the VLS6200 and VLS12000 models will be available in September. Pricing is based on physical capacity.

Over the last 3 months ICC commissioned an independent market research company to carry out a survey to over 25,000 companies from large corporates to SME’s including existing clients to see what customers looked for in their IT supplier. This survey was carried out in order for us to review our products and services to ensure we were still meeting customers expectations. After obtaining all the information from our customers we are pleased to be able to release the results from this survey that shows that 92% of all customers new and old find that dealing with ICC meets and exceeds all there requirements over other Suppliers.

To see the full survey results please click here.

ICC is pleased to announce that they have secured yet another service contract for one of the worlds largest pharmaceutical research companies namely Aptuit at their Edinburgh based site. The service support contract chosen by Aptuit covers their development Alphaserver Cluster.

ICC will be supporting Aptuit 24 hours a day 365 days a year with a 4 hour response level. “securing this contract once again adds another high profile client to our ever increasing support client list, our heavy investment into this area of our business with personnel and in-house facilities, ensures that any future customer, or current customer can be assured they are receiving market leading support without the the usual heavy costs associated with the manufacturers maintenance agreement that so many companies choose to adopt”

“At ICC we are trying to re-educate clients to realise that sticking with the manufacturers for support is not always the most reliable and cost effective way to run their I. T. platform, as companies have realised over the last few years that it is not always the best option to buy equipment direct from the manufacturer, we are confident that with the right attributed and procedures in place we can steer our clients in the direction of using our services, and increasing their cover but also reducing their annual costs”

June 2004 saw yet another record year being set by ICC turnover and profit was increased by a further 28% and we also saw an increase in stock and client portfolios. 2003-2004 saw I.C.C move into new premises which we believe was a major factor to our continued growth and also the continued push into the service sector seems to be paying dividends. Over the next year we look forward to introducing IBM to our product range which will open the door for our services and products into new market areas

ICC secures 24hour 365 days a year contract with major manufacturing PLC, Covering their Alpha Platform at their manufacturing plant in Hull, “The contract has been secured and we have migrated our services into our clients site with little or no disruption to the site, and in doing so have cut there annual maintenance agreement costs by 35%,” the contract opens the door for further sites located around the UK and Europe.

Due to the continued success and growth of ICC over the last 4 years, we have relocated into new premises, these new premises allow us to deal with a higher demand of orders and enables us to extend our testing facilties so that we can handle and increase the number of orders being taken and improve our system build times. Our new premises also allow us to increase our stock portfolio therefore allowing us to become a multi-vendor support company, our customers platforms have migrated, moving from the old days of having one manufacturers brand, therefore to keep in tune with our customers demands we need to be able to support and supply their existing platform but also give them the same dedication and expertise in other platforms, this move enables us to do just that.