WESTBOROUGH, Mass., March 5 -- ExaGrid Systems Inc., the leader in cost-effective and scalable disk-based backup solutions with byte-level data de-duplication, today announced that the results of a lab review by Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), an analyst firm specializing in the testing and analysis of specific storage-related products, have confirmed that the ExaGrid Disk-Based Backup System provides leading backup and restore rates, linear performance and scalability with large and growing data amounts, and substantial cost savings due to data de-duplication.

The recently published report details the results of ESG Lab's comprehensive testing of the ExaGrid Disk-Based Backup System and validates ExaGrid's product claims in all aspects of data backup and recovery, including high-speed backup and restore rates, data de-duplication ratios, linear scalability, remote replication and general ease of installation and management.

The following excerpts from the ESG Lab report discuss ExaGrid's performance in several key areas that organizations should consider as they evaluate a disk-based backup system with data de-duplication:

Backup and Restore Performance

“ESG Research indicates that performance is the top priority for data center managers considering a Disk-Based backup solution. ExaGrid uses a scalable post-process de-duplication approach for optimal backup and recovery performance. As an organization's data grows, the ExaGrid approach maintains day-one backup and restore performance. Using real-world data and a real-world backup application, ESG Lab has confirmed that ExaGrid can backup data at a rate of 4 TB/hr for a fully configured grid. Based on ESG Lab's experience testing a number of Disk-Based backup systems in recent years, this is a superb level of performance.”

Real-World Data De-duplication Ratios

“Data de-duplication changes the economics of backup to disk by reducing the cost of data retained on disk. ESG Lab testing and feedback from ExaGrid customers indicates that de-duplication can be used to reduce disk capacity by a factor of twenty to one or more depending on the type of data being backed up, the backup policies in use and the number of backups retained on disk.”

Linear Scalability

“ExaGrid scales to meet a wide variety of performance and capacity requirements. ESG Lab found that adding a new server to an existing grid is straightforward. Automatic spillover and migration provides the flexibility needed to grow, maintain and tune a growing pool of virtualized capacity. Taken together with the space savings provided by de-duplication, the scalability of a singly-managed ExaGrid system reduces the cost and complexity of managing growing Disk-Based backup requirements.”

WAN-Efficient Remote Replication

“ESG Lab has verified that ExaGrid's data de-duplication significantly reduces the amount of data that needs to be transferred over the WAN, enabling what may have otherwise been impossible or prohibitively costly. ESG Lab has also confirmed that ExaGrid remote replication has no impact on backup performance. It's a cost-effective alternative to tape for offsite archival.”

Ease of Setup and Management

• “Initial configuration of an ExaGrid system is simple and intuitive. Integration with existing backup application polices was straightforward. The first backup job was running sixteen minutes after beginning a configuration from scratch on a pre-wired system.”

• “It's easy for vendors to make big claims about their products; it's another thing entirely to go into the lab with an outside party like ESG and have your claims tested and fully validated,” said Marc Crespi, vice president of product management for ExaGrid Systems, Inc. “We are proud that ESG witnessed first-hand the leading backup and restore performance, linear scalability, effective data de-duplication and tremendous ease of use that our customers have long enjoyed with the ExaGrid Disk-Based backup System.”

• “ESG Lab believes that organizations struggling with the cost, complexity and risk associated with tape backups would be wise to consider the bottom line savings that can be achieved with ExaGrid: faster backups, quicker and more reliable restores, lower risk, lower expenses (capital and operational) and last, but not least, a greener solution with optimized power and cooling,” said Claude Bouffard, ESG Lab engineer.

Complete Report Available for Download

A free copy of the ESG Lab report is available for download via www.exagrid.com/why_exagrid/industry_analyst_perspectives.asp.

About Enterprise Strategy Group

Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) is a leading information technology (IT) analyst firm focused on the information storage, information security, information management and enterprise infrastructure markets. ESG provides strategic guidance and unmatched service to technology vendors, IT professionals, venture capitalists and institutional investors. Clients engage ESG for a variety of services including expert industry analysis, strategic consulting, market research and hands-on technology product testing and validation. For more information, visit www.enterprisestrategygroup.com.

About ExaGrid Systems Inc.

Located in Westborough, Mass., ExaGrid is the leader in cost-effective disk-based backup solutions. A highly scalable system that works with existing backup applications, the ExaGrid system is ideal for companies looking to quickly eliminate the hassles of tape backup while reducing their existing backup windows. ExaGrid's innovative approach minimizes the amount of data to be stored by providing standard data compression for the most recent backups along with byte-level data de-duplication technology for all previous backups. Customers can deploy the ExaGrid system at a primary site and at a second site to supplement or eliminate offsite tapes with a live data repository or for disaster recovery. For more information, visit www.exagrid.com.

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Source: ExaGrid Systems Inc.