Iomega Provides Flexible Backup Solution For SMB’s?
The Overview:
As most of you know we really liked the original REV drives a lot, but couldn’t give them a hearty recommendation simply because we felt that the cost was a bit high compared with other options out there. You may also know that one of the issues we are very focused on is finding a great product option for SMB’s (particularly those running Microsoft SBS) to have when it comes to reliable, flexible, and simple data backups and restoration.
Now, Iomega has released the second generation of its tape-battling desktop autoloader, promising 560GB of automated hard disk-based backup capability for small business servers. That certainly piqued our interest seeing as how configuring backup solutions for Small Business Servers is one of our main tasks, not to mention we have a custom fireproof/waterproof casing in the works for external drives that will be made available in 2007. We skipped over the Iomega autoloader as an option to go in our casings last time due to its storage limitations, but with 560 Gig we may have to revisit that thinking.
The Pitch:
The REV Loader 560 uses removable hard drive technology to stack eight, 70GB drives into a 18×13 cm disaster recovery box. Native storage is 560GB, however, with compression you should see larger numbers than that depending on the type of data you are backing up (technically up to 1.12TB max).
Connecting to a server via USB 2.0 ports, Iomega claims that its autoloader is dramatically faster than tape-based automation devices with up to 30MB/sec data transfer rates with random access capability, or up to 10 times faster than DAT-72.
Iomega says that the REV Loader enables small business to deploy an automated backup device without having to subject themselves to the costs and complexities that can be part and parcel with automatic tape-based solutions. To further push the REV as a backup and disaster recovery device, every unit comes with a license for CA BrightStor ARCserve Backup for Windows (r11.5) which includes support for disaster recovery. Which won’t do our clients a lot of good as we deploy Backup Exec as our standard, but a lot of you out there using the built in backup tools of SBS might find it handy.
“The REV Loader 560 delivers the speed and convenience of a hard drive with the advanced backup protection of removable media in an automated, ‘no-touch’ data protection solution,” claims Scott Dillon, Australia and New Zealand, Country Manager. “If disaster strikes and the server goes down, there’s no searching for the right backup disk. The Iomega REV Loader 560, in tandem with the included BrightStor ARCserve Backup software from CA, automatically loads the correct disk and restores the system to its previous state. That’s the kind of data protection that small businesses need in today’s regulatory environment.”
Iomega boasts that compared to tape-based autoloaders, the REV Loader 560 is half the size, half the weight, 10 times as fast and one-third the device cost (on a dollar per gigabyte basis). The disks themselves have an estimated archival life of 30 years, while the REV Loader is backwards compatible with older 35GB disks.
The bottom line:
- You may notice us using a lot of statements like “Iomega claims”, “Iomega states”, etc, etc. in this article. That’s because for the moment we haven’t actually had the opportunity to put a unit through its paces…nor have we seen (and we looked) an actual testbed review. Thus we are left with to filter our way through the marketing fluff put out by Iomega. So if you are listening Iomega, send us a unit that we can throw into our test lab!
- (In lieu of answering questions then, here are our top questions to answer)
- Overall Performance/Value Matrix - We view the small business backup world a little differently than many of the vendors. From our perspective there are 4 main approaches in regards to flexibility and performance. 1) Tape Media. 2)Internal-Disk-2-Disk. 3) External-Disk-2-Disk. 4) Hybrid/Shadow Backups. We’d like to see where in our matrix the REV Loader fits. It is obviously going to score very high in flexibility, and should outperform tape media in general. But it will be interesting to see the matrix breakdown comparisons between internal and external D2D options. My personal opinion is that it’s going to do very well on our unique matrices. Because of how rigid a lot of review labs are when looking at data, I have a sneaking suspicion that a product like this might not rate too well at some of those ‘purist’ labs. It’s easy to overlook how “useful” an item can be in real life if you isolate it solely into its individual parts instead of evaluating the whole.
- Strategy Fit – As our faithful readers and clients know, we fit backup and storage hardware into an inclusive solution. If we recommend a product, we do so along with a specific backup strategy for your business that the product would work well at. We think this is much more helpful than simply handing out performance numbers. I already have some ideas about this particular product and it may even add a new category to our existing backup strategies due to the capabilities it will have in regards to offsite rotations. The ‘tape-like’ characteristics of rotation, the ‘disk-like’ characteristics of performance and flexibility…..I hesitate to say too much in that area though until I see how well its compression works, at what speeds, and how durable the cartridges are. Without those 3 items offsite rotations won’t be a great option, so it’s too soon to say.
- Product Expansion Roadmap – One area that I have to say I’ve always been a little disappointed in Iomega is that of long term product Roadmap’s. What I mean by that is that they seem to put a great deal of thought and energy into the media roadmap, and very little to that of the drive device that reads/writes the media. Think about it, isn’t it great that this device is compatible with the 35gig cartridge?…..now think about it a little deeper….hey, how come I can’t just slap a 70 gig cartridge into my old drive?!! At one point I could understand it a little bit, well..even with the ZIP drives I didn’t understand it that much…but now that they are basically just using stripped down hard drives, and pitching directly to the SMB community they are going to have to revisit their traditional roadmapping of the equipment to tilt a little more to the consumers favor. The general consumer might let you get away with forcing them to upgrade both their device and their media just to say they have the latest and greatest….but the SMB community are a little more savvy than that. Can you imagine if every time a larger laptop hard drive came out the vendor tried to sell you a new laptop to put it in? Exactly.
- Business Outlook – Look, let’s call it what it is. Iomega have managed to make modified hard drives which are very portable and more durable, resolve some of the issues that exist currently with using hacked together alternatives, and built some slick enclosures that you can slap them into. That’s great, we want it, there’s a market for it, and we’ll pay for it…but the reality is that that market will be driven by the enclosures, not the ‘hard drives/media’. The drives (or tapes in the case of tape backups) unfortunately become commodities. If Iomega can deal with that massive shift in thinking from its historical roots I truly believe it will be able to succeed in this marketplace. But if not then there are a lot of folks in the wings, very, very, close to putting some strong products out there. Hmmm, wonder if I just talked too much and ruined my chances of receiving a demo unit?
The “Real” Bottom Line:
The Iomega REV Loader 560 is now available to buy in the U.S. for $1,799. I briefly searched the web for street pricing and as of today the best price I saw was at BUY.com for $1516.80 with free shipping (Go to item at buy.com here)
. Additional REV 70GB disks are available individually and in REV 70GB DISK 4-PACKs.
Reviews:
CURRENTLY NO LAB TESTS HAVE BEEN DONE THAT WE HAVE FOUND. IF WE GET OUR HANDS ON ONE WE WILL THROW IT INTO OUR LAB, BUT IN THE INTERIM IF YOU KNOW OF A TEST REVIEW THAT WE’VE MISSED PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT AND A LINK.
Add comment November 20th, 2006
