Double-Take Software has given its predictions for the backup market during 2008. The key prediction is that developing end-user requirements, including growing regulatory compliance pressures and enhanced risk management practices, will combine with advances in available technologies to make disk-based backup the clear winner of the 2008 backup market.

Ian Masters, UK sales and marketing director at Double-Take Software, commented, "To continue to meet the needs of our customers, Double-Take Software has to be able to predict how our technology might help customers meet the new challenges they face and the impact that newly available technology will have in enabling them to meet their business needs. Double-Take Software believes that new operational and compliance challenges, combined with advances in disk based backup and complementary technologies, will lead to disk-to-disk-tape becoming the most popular backup infrastructure in 2008."

Changing business demands, including increased compliance and risk management pressures and more efficient use of IT infrastructure investment, has lead to the rapid adoption of new technologies. These technologies often require disk-based backup systems for their effective implementation. For example, many industry regulations require that current and archived emails remain rapidly accessible. The increased use of Windows mobile and Blackberry devices is further driving the need for technology that can ensure availability of email systems and data. The growing adoption of virtualisation technology in production environments to enhance efficiency is generating growth in virtualised disaster recovery environments, which is only practically achievable through disk-based backup.

Advances in complementary technologies will make disk-based backup more attractive, relative to tape only backup, and drive further adoption.
Technology developments that have been initiated or accelerated during 2007 include more efficient data de-duplication and the increased usability and functionality of WAN acceleration systems. Growth in the use of these technologies throughout 2008 will make cross-site data replication affordable and possible for most businesses.

A key advance in disk based recovery technology during 2007 has been the ability to recover full systems, not just stored data. It is now possible to protect an entire server in real-time, making recovery of systems much faster and simpler. This, alongside the 2007 introduction of practical and affordable solutions for tier three servers, will reinforce the message that disk based backup technology offers all organisations a level of protection and recoverability that cannot be delivered by tape alone.

www.doubletake.com

•Date: 13th Dec 2007• Region: UK/World •Type: Article •Topic: IT continuity
Rate this article or make a comment - click here