Case Study | A.T. Kearney
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Overview
Industry
Consulting
Challenges
Better utilize existing data
center resources
F5 Networks and Data Domain Deliver Automated Storage
Tiering Solution
F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), the global leader in Application Delivery Networking (ADN), and Data Domain, Inc. (NASDAQ: DDUP),
the leading provider of deduplication storage systems, today announced a new partnership to co­market a joint solution that automates the
movement of static and archive data from expensive primary storage to a cost­efficient secondary storage tier. Enterprises are looking for
new ways to control storage­related costs and cope with infrequently accessed data and long­term archive of file data. Together, Data
Domain and F5 move this data from premium primary storage to a space­efficient and easy­to­manage storage system that reduces capital
costs and extends retention periods while addressing power, cooling, and floor space issues.
By combining the advanced deduplication capabilities of Data Domain storage systems with the intelligent file virtualization capabilities of the
F5® ARX ® series, users have seamless and live access to ultra­efficient, low­cost storage resources. F5 and Data Domain have completed
a full suite of interoperability testing to ensure seamless integration into user environments, production stability, and simplified management.
"Customers are looking for ways to extend the life of their technology investments, especially in today's challenging economic environment,"
said Terri McClure, Senior Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). "Implementing a storage tiering solution, such as the one developed
by F5 and Data Domain, is an ideal way to reclaim tier 1 storage by non­disruptively migrating less­used data off of tier 1 and onto
appropriate storage tiers. This ensures users are only storing a single copy of that data, which increases overall disk utilization. These types of
partnerships are important to customers. The thorough, end­to­end solution testing helps take risk out of deploying a combined solution."
Enterprises that deploy F5 and Data Domain products together can easily and non­disruptively move files onto the appropriate storage tier,
without requiring changes from users or the applications accessing those files.
Key benefits of the solution include:
Considerably lowered storage costs. Users can reduce storage costs by moving appropriate data to a deduplication storage tier,
which requires less physical storage and reduces associated power, space and cooling costs.
Significantly reduced backup windows and costs. Users can reduce the overall size of their backups, thereby reducing the cost of
the backup infrastructure and shrinking backup and recovery windows.
Simplified administration. The policy­driven data management feature of ARX ensures that storage tiering is simple for users to
manage. Placement of data on the deduplicated storage tier is automatic (i.e., administrators do not have to manually move the data)
and transparent to applications and users.
Easy integration into existing storage environments. Joint solution users can automatically migrate data to a Data Domain storage
tier using the policy­based migration and tiering capabilities of F5's ARX products.
"As enterprise storage requirements increase, so do the associated costs of acquiring, managing and backing up the storage, along with the
time spent managing and backing up the data," said Chuck Wood, Director of Product Management at F5. "Data Domain systems provide a
very efficient, cost effective storage tier for customers. The F5 ARX system gives customers a way to quickly and easily place appropriate
data on this storage tier without affecting user or application access. We're excited about our partnership with Data Domain and are confident
that our customers will be just as enthusiastic about the clear ROI that this joint solution delivers."
"The combination of file virtualization and data deduplication offers users significant cost­savings by simply moving persistent data off of their
expensive storage resources onto a capacity­optimized storage tier," said Shane Jackson, Director of Product and Channel Marketing for
Data Domain. "The integration of F5 ARX and Data Domain storage means users can automate and reduce the costs and complexities of
their tiered storage deployments. This partnership demonstrates the use of Data Domain systems to provide unified, deduplicated, and self­
"The combination of file virtualization and data deduplication offers users significant cost­savings by simply moving persistent data off of their
expensive storage resources onto a capacity­optimized storage tier," said Shane Jackson, Director of Product and Channel Marketing for
Data Domain. "The integration of F5 ARX and Data Domain storage means users can automate and reduce the costs and complexities of
their tiered storage deployments. This partnership demonstrates the use of Data Domain systems to provide unified, deduplicated, and self­
protecting storage for the broad spectrum of nearline applications, which is data that is rarely changed."
In addition to providing a joint solution, Data Domain has become a member of F5's Technology Alliance Program, and F5 is now a Data
Domain Technology Partner.
About Data Domain
Data Domain® is the leading provider of deduplication storage systems. Over 2500 companies worldwide have purchased Data Domain
systems to reduce storage costs and simplify data management. Data Domain delivers the performance, reliability and scalability to address
the data protection and nearline storage needs of enterprises of all sizes. Data Domain products integrate into existing customer
infrastructures and are compatible with leading enterprise backup and archive software products. To find out more about Data Domain, visit
www.datadomain.com. Data Domain is headquartered at 2421 Mission College Blvd., Santa Clara, CA 95054 and can be contacted by
phone at 1­866­933­3873 or by e­mail at [email protected].
About F5 Networks
F5 Networks is the global leader in Application Delivery Networking. F5 provides solutions that make applications secure, fast, and available
for everyone. By adding intelligence and manageability into the network to offload applications and optimize the data storage layer, F5
extends the power of intelligent networking to all levels of application delivery. F5's extensible architecture optimizes applications, delivers
application reliability, and protects the application and network. Enterprise organizations, service providers and Web 2.0 content providers
worldwide trust F5 to keep their applications running. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington with offices worldwide. For more
information, go to www.f5.com.