Quantum downsizes DXi deduplication boxes

Quantum has downsized its enterprise DXi7500 deduplication product to the mid-range DXi6500, and given it Nehalem processing power and solid state storage.

The DXi7500 is a high-end deduplication product offering both in-line deduplication as data lands on the device or post-process deduplication after data has landed. The latter allows a faster transfer of backup data to the device.

The DXi7500 is for 5 to 40+TB of primary storage data whereas the DXi6500 is for 3 to 30TB, there being a fair degree of overlap. We would expect the 7500 product to be given a Nehalem and SSD refresh to widen the performance gap between it and this new box.

There are five pre-configured and user-installable turnkey models of the DXi6500, ranging from the 6510, through the 6520, 6530, and 6540, on to the top-end 6550. All models come with dual quad-core Nehalem processors, with a NAS interface, OST support, replication and 1Gbit/E. The 6510 has two 1gigE ports and 8TB of disk storage. This disk storage is based on 1TB drives with RAID 6 protection and an online spare. The 6520 gives users six 1gigE ports and 8 to 32TB of capacity.

The 6530 has 24 to 56TB of storage and the same number of gigE ports. The 6540 is the same but with two 8Gbit/s Fibre Channel ports for writing backup data direct to tape. The 6550 is the highest-performing product and offers two 1gigE ports and two 10gigE ports alongside the two Fibre Channel ports.

Quantum says the range includes solid state drive (SSD) support. All the five have SSD, in both the System node and in the optional disk arrays. There are four 64GB Intel SSDs in the system node, in a Raid 1 configuration, and two 64GB SSDs, also in a RAID 1 configuration, in each disk array. A Quantum spokesperson said: "The DXi7500 is a VTL-centric Enterprise Array scaling from 11TB to 220TB of usable capacity. All licences, both capacity and functional, are included with the DXi6500, whereas the DXi7500 is licensed separately for Dedupe capacity allowing the customer to use the unit as a native VTL if they wish."

Quantum compares the DXi6500 to industry leader Data Domain's DD660, saying the EMC box tops out at 22TB raw storage, has an equal 2TB/hour data ingest rate, lacks a direct path to tape, and is vastly more expensive with a starting price around $140,000.

The DXi6500 has an MSRP of $64,000. The 6510 and 6520 will be available in November, with the other models coming along in the first quarter of 2010. ®