Permabit’s got an updated version of Albireo, complete with new GX technology for an industry first—OEM embedded data optimization, delivering real-time primary data deduplication. Launch partners include a number of NAS and block storage companies, such as BlueArc and Xiotech Corporation.

The updated version of Albireo brings some other precedents along for the ride, including a rate of 77 GB/second in a grid configuration (based on 64 KB chunk size with SHA-256 hashing hardware). This incorporates patented indexing and memory resource utilization software for a much more streamlined dedupe process. And isn’t that what every IT department wants?

Created for hardware and software storage OEMs, Permabit’s Albireo is designed to improve competitive positions and improve margins, with this optimized data for the next generation. Through Albireo, Permabit can enable its partners to deploy sub-file dedupe tech without impacting storage performance, and also ensuring data integrity. As such, Albireo doesn’t alter data, operating outside of the data read path. This is a highly important step that gives Permabit a competitive edge for services offering deduplication in the cloud.

“Albireo was created to provide deduplication that scales to meet the workload requirements of the most demanding business critical environments without performance impact,” says Jered Floyd, Chief Technology Officer, Permabit. “Albireo, with GX technology, is effectively unlimited in its ability to scale upward. It handles any primary storage workload today and into the foreseeable future. Albireo puts our OEM customers way ahead in performance, scale and storage efficiency.”

As Permabit makes headway in the cloud industry, this ability to strategically facilitate deduplication in real-time is a major step forward. While NetApp set initial standards around dedupe for the market (with a product formerly known as ASIS), its weakness was that it’s overhead intensive, and unable to be used in real time or near-real time.

NetApp circumvented client complaints by bundling it for free within their stack, though a number of competitors like EMC have taken this as an opportunity to create alternatives within their own services. HP, for example, has an integrated dedupe option, but it only supports secondary storage.

“Permabit’s Albireo technology is groundbreaking in that it provides very high performance and is extremely flexible. It can be used in-line, post-process or in parallel,” comments Dave Vellante, Senior Analyst and founder of Wikibon.org. “The fact that it is available as an SDK is what makes Albireo so appealing. With some integration work, OEMs can embed the technology inside of any storage array without the need to rehydrate.
“Ultimately this is how storage optimization will be delivered, as an embedded feature. With Ocarina being purchased by Dell and Storwize by IBM, Permabit looks to be running the table on the rest of the OEM market for storage optimization.”