Storage management and backup software vendor CommVault (NASDAQ: CVLT) is giving its Simpana software new cloud storage capabilities.
CommVault’s integrated cloud storage connector lets customers move onsite backup and archive data in and out of private and public cloud storage without the need for scripting or cloud gateway appliances.
The data storage software vendor isn’t looking to join the growing list of online storage providers, however. Instead, the new feature simply lets users work with the likes of Amazon Web Services, EMC (NYSE: EMC) Atmos, Iron Mountain, Microsoft and Nirvanix.
The move comes despite persistent skepticism among enterprise storage users about cloud storage security, service levels, chain of custody and other issues, according to a recent Forrester study.
Jeff Echols, CommVault’s director of cloud solutions, agreed that enterprise storage users are still trying to grasp the possible use cases for cloud storage, but he added that such services have potential as a low-cost tier for compliance-related data retention, citing GE as one such use case. “For compliance-type applications, it could get interesting for enterprises,” Echols said.
CommVault Simpana uses native REST over HTTP to achieve tight integration with APIs from Amazon S3, EMC Atmos, Iron Mountain’s Archive Services Platform, Microsoft Azure and Nirvanix SDN. CommVault customers simply create a storage policy to select cloud storage as a target.
CommVault also offers data deduplication, compression and FIPS-certified encryption to reduce storage costs and boost security, while Simpana Search can index data before sending it to the cloud to help meet compliance and e-discovery needs.
The new cloud storage capability is available in the latest CommVault Service Pack. Users need a per-terabyte capacity license from CommVault and an account with one of the cloud service providers.
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