IBM has acquired privately held storage software provider Diligent Technologies. The financial terms were not disclosed.

Diligent’s deduplication software substantially reduces the amount and cost of physical storage required in data centers while maintaining the integrity of the data, noted Andy Monshaw, general manager of IBM System Storage.

“Exceptionally suited for midrange and enterprise clients,” the newly acquired technology is designed “to eliminate redundant data and streamline the infrastructure required to support their businesses, which can result in dramatic improvements in data-center efficiency,” Monshaw said.

A Good Fit

“For IBM, Diligent is a good fit,” noted Forrester Research analyst Stephanie Balaouras. “The company offers both mainframe and open systems virtual tape libraries and they are a pioneer of deduplication,” she said.

Deduplication is important because storage capacities are growing 50 percent or more a year and most of the information that we store — at a file and at a block level — is redundant, Balaouras noted. “With deduplication, companies can reduce storage-capability requirements by a factor of 10 to 15 times,” Balaouras said.

As corporate information grows, so does the amount of time required to back up that data. Deduplication technology enables enterprises to cut costs by reducing this time requirement.

The technology also reduces the amount of physical storage required in the data center, which leads to lower energy costs, noted Diligent CEO Doron Kempel. “Any economically oriented customer who cares about data protection will need this technology,” Kempel said.

Impeccable Timing

The Diligent acquisition follows Sun Microsystems’ announcement that it is adding deduplication capabilities to its virtual tape library storage portfolio. The announcement was no big surprise, according to Balaouras.

“Customers now expect virtual tape libraries and other backup to disk appliances to support deduplication,” Balaouras explained. “Every VTL and appliance vendor will support deduplication within three months, if not…

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