Deduplication: a return on investment too compelling to ignore

The business environment in which we work has changed beyond all recognition over the past year or so. IT budgets that were already under close scrutiny must now pass ever more stringent criteria and new projects must face the ultimate acid test; “can we do without?” Despite this, the creation of corporate data has grown exponentially along with the volume of data that must now be retained in order to comply with regulatory and compliance rules. These two factors combined are having a significant impact on backup and recovery infrastructures.

Unsurprisingly, backup infrastructures everywhere are straining under the pressure of data growth. CIOs require a fast track solution that can cost effectively address existing backup challenges but also demonstrate real value. So how can CIOs measure ROI from their backup infrastructures and demonstrate this to the board when budgets remain constrained? The answer lies in data deduplication technology. By reducing the amount of data that needs to be stored, deduplication enables users to store more data on the same amount of disk capacity. The benefits for organisations are clear in terms of increased efficiencies and cost savings achievable via deduplication.

ROI
By implementing a data dedupliation strategy businesses can reap an average of 63 percent reduction in backup administration time, increasing to 93 percent when implementing integrated disk and tape solutions which can provide a demonstrable payback in less than 12 months. This presents an opportunity for resellers looking to capitalise on the data growth challenge. CIOs need guidance on the risks associated with inadequate backup strategies and advice on best practices for addressing the problem with demonstrable ROI. It is up to the channel to lead the charge in educating the market that this can be easily achieved.

Internet for BusinessQuantum (QTM) customer Internet for Business recently faced a growing set of challenges in managing its clients’ data needs. With data rising exponentially, it became clear that to earn the trust of its client base, Internet for Business needed to boost its backup. By implementing deduplication technology as the anchor for a comprehensive disk-to-disk-to-tape backup, Internet For Business increased the amount of data clients can retain on fast-recovery disk by 12 times. In only four weeks, Internet for Business recouped its investment.

Harnessing the benefits of de-duplication technology also greatly reduces the amount of redundant data stored – increasing utilisation levels, backup success rates and reducing costs. This architecture offers the best of both worlds; fast retrieval from disk for frequently accessed data and cost-effective, slower access for long-term archive. The result is a cost-effective and flexible backup and recovery infrastructure that can be scaled to grow alongside the business and ultimately, one that will achieve backup success every time.

Channel prospects
So what does all this mean for the channel? Resellers and distributors have ample opportunity to advise businesses on the risks of failing to adequately backup data while demonstrating quick return on investment through data deduplication. This will help the channel to reinforce customer relationships and cement its position as a trusted partner that improves business performance and enables cost savings at a time when IT budgets are continuing to shrink.