CommVault marries search and discovery with backup

By Brian Fonseca

July 10, 2007

 Revamped Simpana platform aims to boost e-discovery capabilities

CommVault Systems Inc. this week unveiled Simpana - a refashioned version of its QiNetix data management suite with new integrated search capabilities, single instance store (SIS) and content indexing features. The company said the tool can help users more easily access and make better use of information dispersed across storage tiers within their IT environments,

CommVault said that some of the new features in the new Simpana 7.0 features are tailored toward the increasing demand by organizations for simplified electronic discovery tools and more stringent security controls to better protect and retrieve both active and stored historical data.

The updated software includes a web-based interface that lets users sift through a virtual pool of their documents, email and files pulled from across various backup, archive and online data repositories, noted David West, vice-president of Marketing for Oceanport, NJ-based CommVault. To speed up searches, Simpana uses Oslo, Norway-based Fast Search and Transfer’s InStream search technology, which provides contextual index supporting 370 content types and 77 different languages.

Steve Weiskircher, vice-president of IT Charlottesville, Va.-based Crutchifield New Media LLC, said he hopes to begin testing the platform’s new content index code within two weeks. Crutchifield hopes that the technology can help in its future eDiscovery efforts.

“Content indexing is of great interest to me. While we have not put a system in place to set us up well for [federal e-discovery] requirements, I’m just kicking off a project to get us into that space,” said Weiskircher. “I’m really interested to see what that does from a performance standpoint. The fact it can already be integrated is very appealing.”

A major benefit of the indexing capability, noted Weiskircher, is its ability to look through data - whether offline, online and/or archived - without impacting backup processes because of new smart clients added to Simpana which compress the backup windows and thereby significantly reducing file scanning on the system.

Indexed items and files can be shared across Microsoft Exchange Server and Mirosoft SharePoint offerings, network attached server (NAS) file share across Windows, Linux and UNIX file systems, as well as IBM Lotus Domino, remarked West.

Crutchfield primarily performs its backup directly to tape. The electronics retailer is currently using CommVault to backup data on its 120 Microsoft Windows servers, as well for its Exchange and Microsoft SQL database information.

Simpana targets the dilemma of shrinking storage capacity by embedding new SIS capabilities in the product. Designed to cut down on the amount of duplicate data copies stored on disk, SIS can be hosted on any disk library and stores only unique files and attachments across backup cycles.

Based on its track record of internally developing components of a unified recovery management platform, Lauren Whitehouse, analyst for Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group, said that CommVault’s should be able to easily add the new set to data management capabilities to its integrated storage offering. She said that the integration effort go far easier than similar efforts by competitor Symantec Corp., which recently launched its Storage United  vision that includes myriad acquired products and technologies.