Data Domain Locks Up Deduplication

June 25, 2008: Data Domain has added new capabilities to its nearline storage offerings in the form of its Retention Lock software.

The company says the software is an industry first due to its ability to allow file locking for IT regulatory governance with high throughput inline deduplication while retaining flexibility.

The software enables admins to now store deduplicated files in an unalterable state for a specified length of time. Data Domain says that this introduction of WORM (write once – read many) for active archive, high performance deduplication storage enables enterprises to implement a wide range of corporate IT governance policies that require data be retained and unchanged for fixed periods of time before removing it.

Retention Lock is based on Data Domain’s high-speed inline deduplication storage, which means where other active archive storage products provide a silo of specialised storage, Data Domain can continue to expand consolidation for a consistent nearline storage system covering archiving, remote office backup, datacenter backup, and lower-tiered file storage.

Retention Lock also enforces per-file locking with a set retention period. During this period, users cannot change or delete the files, but trusted operators can manage files and space as required. The company says that this level of compliance protection is designed for supporting those regulations that focus on protection from inadvertent or malicious data modification by storage users.

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