EMC Corp. today announced two new disk arrays for small and midsize companies, as well as upgrades to the company's existing enterprise-class virtual tape library (VTL) that include policy-based data de-duplication and disk power-down capability.   

At its annual conference, EMC World, EMC announced two new versions of its Disk Library series VTL: the DL 3D 1500 for entry-level shops, and the DL 3D 3000 for midrange environments. The new arrays are targeted at LAN-based backup, using NFS and CIFS protocols for file backup. 

The DL 1500 offers up to 36TB of capacity, and the DL 3000 up to 148TB of capacity. Both systems use new, larger-capacity 1TB Serial ATA disk drives with RAID 6 protection, and they offer optional Fibre Channel ports for SAN connectivity. Both libraries will also include de-duplication capability. They are slated to be available May 28. 

EMC plans to begin offering policy-based de-duplication on its DL 4000 enterprise-class VTL, according to Dave Donatelli, EMC's executive vice president of storage product operations. The new SATA 1TB drives will also be available in the DL 3D 4000 VTL, which previously used 750GB drives.   

The DL 3D 4000 model will be available July 28.  While there are many varieties of deduplication -- host-based, client-based, block-based, file-based etc. -- EMC is using the technology on its VTL arrays to create a single copy of a document but allow it to be seen by multiple users through the creation of a pointer. For example, an e-mail sent around a corporation with an attachment would not include the actual attachment for every employee receiving the message, but a pointer to a centrally located file that only looked like an actual e-mail attachment. 

EMC also added disk power-down capability on its DL 4000 VTL through an algorithm built into the array's management software, allowing users to put any number of disks into a "hibernation" mode when not in use, to save on power and extend overall hard disk drive life.   

In a separate announcement, EMC also touted a new version of its NetWorker backup software for midsize businesses. NetWorker Fast Start integrates licensing, installation and setup under a single-panel view. The backup software supports up to 20 Windows or Linux servers and five applications, including SQL Server, Exchange and Oracle. 

Both Donatelli and EMC CEO Joe Tucci emphasized the importance that solid-state disk drive technology will play at the highest level of enterprise-class primary storage. "Over the next two years, all [data] recovery will come off disk ... not tape," Tucci said. "Tape is too slow."  EMC announced support for solid-state disk drives in its enterprise-class DMX array in January.   

Donatelli said that by the end of 2010, solid-state drives will be on price parity with the highest-end spinning disk drives and will represent greater and greater amounts of the Tier 1 capacity in DMX arrays.  Pricing for the DL 1500 array starts at $115,000 retail. The DL 3000 starts at $215,000, and the DL 4000 starts at $200,000. NetWorker Fast Start is priced at $18,500.