IT Week: What do you think are the biggest challenges currently facing enterprise storage managers?

W. Curtis Preston: What has really come to a head over the past couple of years is the inability to get data off disk fast enough in order to archive it on modern tape drives. The big challenge is that disks have to go at a certain speed in order to stream data to the latest tape drives but they cannot do it, and that causes all sorts of backup and equipment failures.

How can this problem be solved?

One solution is to use an intelligent disk target (IDT) as the backup target, 99 percent of which are virtual tape libraries (VTLs), although there are network-attached storage (NAS) devices from Data Domain and NEC. I hope somebody will also come out with a block access file system, effectively an IP-based NAS device that will offer faster backup performance, though no vendor appears ready to reveal a solution yet.

How important is data de-duplication (dedupe) to enterprise storage managers?

Most end-users I talk to consider dedupe as a must-have technology. From an efficiency and cost perspective, backups are very poor because you are backing up the same data over and over again, which is why dedupe makes so much sense. Not all dedupe solutions are created equal, and they can be configured poorly. In general, using dedupe to perform branch office backups is quicker and cheaper than shipping tapes back and forth.

What is the role of data protection management solutions in enterprise backups?

Data protection and recovery management (DPRM) solutions are essential as part of large backups. They bring so much information to light that it is hard for me to understand why any large organisation would not use these tools. I have been involved in dozens of backup efficiency assessments on behalf of GlassHouse over the past three years, and the results of those assessments are often a surprise to the audience.

Do you believe many IT managers prefer to just perform a backup and forget about it, without finding out if it worked or if it was efficient?

The backup folks do want to know if a backup has been successful, but the person writing the cheque has a limited amount of money. When he is presented with different pieces of software, he will recognise that one will make the database go faster and make more money for the company, while the other is just an expensive insurance policy that he thinks will create no extra value. The information that DPRM solutions can provide can save a firm millions of pounds by telling them that they don???t need to buy something, like more tape drives at up to ??60,000 a piece.

About W. Curtis Preston

W. Curtis Preston is vice-president of data protection at IT consultancy firm GlassHouse Technologies.

Prior to joining GlassHouse, he spent 10 years as an independent storage consultant, founding The Storage Group consulting firm, advising the likes of EMC.