Mass Storage News, June 20, 2002 | Market Update

"Tape sucks," grumbles Diamond Lauffin of Nexsan. "And if tape sucks, why put up with it?" Because 96% of the mid-range market is using tape, retorts Quantum's Jim Jonez.

Many storage industry observers are familiar with Nexsan Technology's outspoken Diamond Lauffin, senior executive vice president for the Woodland Hills, CA-based firm. Since helping to relocate Nexsan in the United States from the U.K. on Jan 5, 2001, Lauffin has sung the praises of disk-to-disk (D2D) backup.

In a typical D2D setup, a RAID system is connected to a network. Backups occur incrementally as files are copied from the network to the RAID box. One benefit of D2D is eliminating the need to allocate hours of system down time - a backup window - that tape backups require to copy all of the files modified on the network that day. Also according to D2D proponent Lauffin, disk-based backup is less expensive, quicker, and more reliable than tape backup.

Yet, according to analyst John Webster of the Data Mobility Group, many network administrators aren't purchasing D2D systems to eliminate a backup window or save money. "Since 9/11, people are thinking about what's being called 'time to restore,'" he says. Restoring from a tape backup can take hours or even days as files are uncompressed and transferred back to disk. However, a RAID-based backup can be online as a replacement within minutes or even seconds. "That's where disk-to-disk has gotten a lot of attention the last few months," Webster explains.

"Customers are saying data is so important they need fast restoration in addition to the iron-clad protection you get with tape," concurs Jim Jonez, director of product marketing of the DLTtape Group for Milpitas, CA-based Quantum. "Quantum's Storage Solutions Group installs disk-based backup in addition to tape backup [systems]."

Nexsan's Lauffin recalls a recent IDC conference when the disk versus tape argument arose during a panel discussion that included the CEO of Quantum. "Someone in the audience asked, 'Are you saying tape is dead?' [The Quantum exec] said if you have a backup that is 500 times faster, costs 25% less, and capable of greater redundancy, why not use it?" Phil Ritti, VP and general manager of Quantum's DLTtape division.

Nexsan's D2D product is the ATAboy hardware platform. ATAboy is a RAID box that uses ATA drives - hard drives with an IDE interface instead of the SCSI or Fibre interfaces commonly used in RAID systems. ATA drives are commonly installed in low-end consumer-level PCs and thus are often considered inappropriate for stable RAID systems. But as Webster points out, "the price of ATA drives makes [ATAboy and similar ATA-based D2D backup systems] more attractive."

When MSN last spoke with Lauffin in our August 2, 2001 issue, the VP was attempting to stem a tide of bad vibes about the reliability of ATA drives and D2D backups. Also hindering sales of D2D were perceptions about archiving and the cost of D2D
compared to tape.

It seems now Lauffin's laughing his way to the bank. In only 18 months since hitting U.S. shores Nexsan has shipped over 5,000 D2D storage systems. "We've sold our units to a small little company you may have heard of called UPS [United Parcel Service]," he chides sarcastically. Nexsan has also installed D2D backups at NASA and worldwide shipping company DHL Express, as well as a 600 terra-byte (TB) system at the University of Oslo. Nexsan won Comdex's 2001 Best Enterprise Storage award for the ATAboy RAID storage line. "Nexsan is definitely one of the industry's leaders" in D2D, says Webster. So we ask, how are Lauffin and Nexsan's 105 channel sales partners changing the tape-driven mindsets of today's customers? And is there a viable market for D2D? "I'm not one who believes tape is dead. As a backup medium it's still performing and will for years."

"[Before Nexsan] I sold $100 million in tape in four years," says Lauffin. "Never did I sell tape to someone who wanted it. I sold 275 9TB tape libraries to Hotmail. Did I ever tell them tape was any good? No. Tape sucks. Tell me the redeeming qualities of tape. Tell me one."

While Lauffin is quick with the insults, Data Mobility Group's Webster believes tape will stick around. "I'm not aware of any shops using disk [for backup] exclusively," he says. "I'm not one who believes tape is dead. As a backup medium it's still performing and will for years. It's a good archival medium."

Webster sees D2D as an addition to an existing tape backup system, not a replacement. "Companies are backing up from primary disk to a secondary disk backup, and still backing up to tape as well, to be absolutely sure," he says. "No one is getting rid of tape drives."

Quantum's Jonez agrees. He referred to a recent market research survey to expose the primary backup used by 650 "mid-range" companies. The study revealed 80% of these companies are using tape. And of the 20% using disk for a primary backup, a "great majority" is using tape backup as a supplement to disk, he says. "So 96% of all companies in the mid-range segment are using tape," Jonez explains. Webster doesn't see the tape market shrinking, but he is noticing a pattern of stunted growth. "Tape has hit something of a porous wall," he says. "It's growth is limited by [the emergence] of alternative backups like disk-to-disk. And tape vendors are clearly looking at [D2D] as an opportunity." As for selling and accepting D2D, many in the storage industry are "focused on the wrong issue," Lauffin says. At one time RAID and hard drive prices were too expensive for backup systems. "'Can't afford it' mentally translated to 'can't do it'," he continues. "We have to get rid of the black magic, this complete misdirection of a tape-only environment. If Quantum, this giant $1 billion company says [only tape is reliable], how can I say
they're wrong? Easy. I can say NASA, UPS, and DHL" have all accepted D2D. (See sidebar for a detailed breakdown of how Nexsan is overcoming client misperceptions and selling D2D units, ed.)

Comment: Yes, Lauffin's sales to NASA and UPS prove D2D backup has arrived, opening sales opportunities for disk-to-disk backup systems. Yet, the death knell has not rung for tape. Though Lauffin and his crew may have crafted a better mousetrap, for now the tried and true rat-catcher of tape backup still operates alongside D2D in most networks.

THE SALES PITCH FROM THE MINISTER OF DISK-TO-DISK. How have the channel sales partners of Nexsan Technologies overcome the client perceptions of disk-to-disk (D2D) unreliability and high-cost and close a sale? Here's the conversion sermon Lauffin and his followers are preaching to the tape and optical faithful: Reliability of ATA drives - Lauffin says SCSI, Fibre, and ATA drives' "spindles and platters come down the same line in a plant in Malaysia. One drive gets a SCSI interface, one a Fibre, the next an ATA. That's the only difference." Regardless of interface, the IBM and Maxtor drives used by Nexsan are similar internally he says. However, IBM only warrants its ATA drives for 18 hours of consecutive usage. Since RAID boxes in a D2D setup are operational 24 hours a day, IBM drives can be perceived as unsuitable for high-end RAID use. Lauffin says this warranty was created to protect IBM from the abuse end-user PCs often receive in an unstable home or small office environment. "We have the world's number one rated RAID chassis for anti-vibration," he says. "So our lawyer got a statement from IBM saying they would warrant their drives" in the Nexsan D2D system for 24 hour a day usage. D2D costs more than tape - "We constantly hear RAID can't be less backup systems are cheaper. But tapes

should be replaced each year. Tape backup software is very expensive, adding additional cost. "They're [often] comparing disk versus tape on a media [cost] level only," Lauffin explains. Nexsan's sales channel partners provide cost comparisons of an entire tape backup "solution" versus a D2D package, including the RAID box, software, and drives. Lauffin broke down the gritty financials. A 2.6TB tape backup system would include a 26 tape LTO library, costing about $26,000. About $10,000 more buys four weeks of tapes. Then add another $9,000 to replace the tapes after one year, and $8,000 for the third year's replacements as tape prices continue to drop. For Windows and/or Unix server software, add another $25,000. Total cost, without a maintenance contract, is about $78,000. A comparable system using three Nexsan ATAboy D2D disk backup units costs $42,000. (Note: the manufacturers warrant ATAboy drives for three years.) UPS' Nexsan D2D system includes on-site full disk backup, a duplicate off-site disaster recovery backup RAID box, and archiving of files for one year on hard disk. "Our system was 1% less expensive than a [comparable] tape system," says Lauffin. Version control - How many times have you screwed up a document and breathed a sigh of relief when realizing a copy of yesterday's version of the document was on a tape? Since D2D backup practically instantaneously

copies a modified file to the backup drives, isn't this ability to get a days-old version of a document lost? "That's not version control, that's a poor by-product of a tape world," says Lauffin. Nexsan's software does support version control. "It can backup a file at 3PM, 6PM, and 9PM and at the end of the day have all three versions," he says. "And version control for virus protection? How soon will [a network administrator] know the system was attacked by a virus? Within three days? Set the software to keep three days of backups [on the drives]. That's true version control." Files are immediately available - "Do you really want your files sitting in a proprietary compressed format on a tape?" Lauffin asks. If the system crashes, time is lost as files are uncompressed and restored from backup tapes. However, with D2D, files are stored in an uncompressed native format. So with a simple path redirect, the files can be available immediately to network users. "Is disk best? No it's not. The best [backup medium] is nonvolatile memory. But disk is better than tape. "But we [as an industry] are not telling Wall Street or investment bankers that," he says. "We've put it in a closet and closed the door." For more information: Nexsan Technologies, Woodland Hills, CA, PH (866) 463-9726, www.nexsan.com.

For more information:
Nexsan Technologies, Woodland Hills, CA, PH (866) 463-9726, www.nexsan.com;
Data Mobility Group, Londonderry, NH, PH (603) 432-7941,
Quantum Corp., Milpitas, CA, PH (408) 944-4000, www.quantum.com.

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