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Symantec rides dedupe roadmap to backup software

Will reach NetBackup and Backup Exec by next March

Symantec is embedding deduplication capabilities in NetBackup and Backup Exec as part of its ongoing of its backup software.

Instead of seeing these software products backup data to deduplicating appliances, such as those from EMC, Data Domain or Dell's DL2000 CommVault Simpana box, Symantec will have its own backup products remove redundant block-level data strings from backup data and enable it to be stored in much less disk space than before. In other words it will have a source dedupliction capability instead of having other product targets deduplicate the data it has backed up

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Aaron Rakers has produced a research note saying that dedupe would be integrated in NetBackup 7.0 and Backup Exec 2010 in the second half of its financial 2010 year, which closes at the end of March, 2010. It will use the PureDisk Deduplication Engine (PDDE) from its separate PureDisk product line.

The PureDisk product will be upgraded to v6.6 in the first half of Symantec's fiscal 2010, which finishes at the end of September this year, and support up to 16TB of capacity per node. It will also feature support for Oracle and Exchange environments and work better with VMware.

Apparently Symantec was going to announce a strategic partnership with Data Domain, until that company decided it wanted to get taken over by NetApp. This would probably have taken advantage of Symantec's OST (Open Storage Technology) interface and the company can still use this and partner for target-based deduplication situations that its own source deduplication technology won't be applicable for.

Separately from this there is speculation that Symantec may be in talks to acquire InMage for its DR-Scout disaster recovery and business continuity software. Both companies have responded "no comment" to questions about this. ®

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