Sun Microsystems has announced that it will resell
Diligent Technologies
virtual tape library(VTL) with Diligent'sdata deduplicationas part of
the software. This stands in contrast to Sun's earlier statements
about still being in the testing phase with data deduplication on
the VTL it rebrands from FalconStor Software.Sun officials said the Diligent relationship does not change the
company's commitment to FalconStor as the basis for Sun's branded
VTLs. As for the deduplication issue, Sun said the difference is
that FalconStor's software is integrated more deeply with Sun's
appliances and Solaris operating system, thus requiring more kinks
to be worked out in adding data deduplication.
None of FalconStor's major OEM partners, which also include IBM and
EMC, has qualified FalconStor's data deduplication on their own
rebranded VTLs. For EMC, its ownership of data deduplication
software player Avamar Technologies is the likely reason, but
IBM has cited concerns about data
deduplication similar to those voiced by
Sun around its Aug. 8 announcement that
FalconStor's VTL software had been ported to its SunFire X4500
DAS server without deduplication.
Some analysts said that at face value, Sun's signing of a
competitor as a channel partner is not helping FalconStor's cause.
"I'll tell you one thing it doesn't say -- it doesn't say, 'we love
these guys [FalconStor], and we'd never use anybody else'," said an
analyst who asked not to be identified.
"I would say that it spells trouble," said John Webster,
principal IT analyst with Illuminata. "Their three major OEMs are
showing signs of at least being on the fence, which I don't think
is a good sign."
However, other analysts pointed out that Sun has been trying to
expand its VTL portfolio in general over the last two years and has
made a number of changes and revisions to its VTL product line
toward that goal. Sun also resells BakBone Software's VTL software
for the lower end of the market, and several industry watchers felt
that the Diligent signing could be a result of wanting to offer a
higher end VTL, rather than any statement about data
deduplication.
"Diligent's initial focus has been the enterprise, and its
ProtecTier solution is field proven to scale in these
environments," said Heidi Biggar, analyst with the Enterprise
Strategy Group (ESG). "That's not to say that FalconStor's [Single
Instance Repository] SIR can't scale. Diligent simply has more
proof points of its success in these types of environments." Sun
also has a pre-existing relationship with Diligent OEM partner
Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), and Diligent's CEO Doron Kempel said
the two companies already have some large joint customers without a
formal agreement in place.
However, not every analyst felt that bringing Diligent on board
is necessarily the recipe for a successful product strategy. "I
think FalconStor's major OEMs will eventually certify the
deduplication. Plus, for the OEMs that are interested in truly
integrating disk and tape, FalconStor wins there," said Stephanie
Balaouras, senior analyst with Forrester Research. But the Diligent
deal, independent of the data deduplication issue, "is going to
create a lot of challenging positioning for Sun, and to have [four]
VTL platforms, one mainframe and [three] open systems based on
different technologies, is not advantageous for customers."
FalconStor officials declined to issue a statement, saying
through a spokesperson that the company "doesn't comment on OEM
partners, so we can't respond to these specific questions [about
data deduplication]."