Press Release

Contact:

Bill Hobbib ExaGrid Systems, Inc. (508) 898-2872 ext. 527

Matt Landry Matter Communications for ExaGrid Systems 978-518-4510

ExaGrid Chosen over EMC Data Domain by a Growing Number of Customers

Mid-Market and Small Enterprise Customers Gain Superior Scalability and Performance with ExaGrid

Westborough, Mass. – Dec. 14, 2011 -- ExaGrid Systems, Inc., the leader in cost-effective and scalable disk-based backup solutions with data deduplication, today announced continued market momentum as multiple customers have selected ExaGrid’s EX Series over EMC Data Domain’s DD Series system. Recent customer wins include Volkswagen Credit, Seton Hill University, Bethune-Cookman University and Rio Bank, which have all credited ExaGrid’s unique approach to disk-based backup and deduplication as the deciding purchasing factor.

ExaGrid is the only disk backup solution purpose-built for backup that offers post-processing for fastest backups and restores and a GRID architecture that expands capacity as data grows by adding full appliances to maintain fast backup performance and prevent backup windows from exploding. ExaGrid eliminates the scalability problems associated with competitive systems that use a fixed controller and expands capacity by adding just disk shelves as data grows until backup windows explode to an unacceptable level, requiring a forklift upgrade.

Volkswagen Credit Selects ExaGrid after Testing Solutions Side-by-Side

• The financial services company chose the ExaGrid system based on its post-process deduplication, scalable architecture, overall ease-of-use, and superior price/performance.
• Prior to the ExaGrid deployment, weekly full backups were pushing beyond 72 hours. With ExaGrid, the company has seen as high as a 75 percent improvement in its backup speeds, and restores which are described as “lightning fast.
• As a result of this success, the company has installed ExaGrid appliances at five North American locations, with plans to install ExaGrid at additional sites in the future.

Customers Choose ExaGrid for Scalability and Approach to Disk Backup with Deduplication

• Seton Hill chose ExaGrid over EMC Data Domain based on ExaGrid’s scalable architecture, customer support model, and superior price/performance. Tape backup times were approaching 23 hours when they selected ExaGrid and have now dropped by two-thirds to less than eight hours. They cite ExaGrid’s customer support as “second to none.”
• Bethune-Cookman also chose ExaGrid based on the superior architectural approach to data deduplication.  Backup times have been reduced by a factor of three times compared to before ExaGrid, and restores are significantly faster and easier.
• Rio Bank evaluated five vendors, including EMC Data Domain, and chose ExaGrid after extensive due diligence based on solid product performance, scalability to accommodate future data growth, and customer references. Prior to ExaGrid, backups ran 15 hours a night and required 40 tapes a week. With ExaGrid, backup times have been significantly reduced, and the bank also has greater data security from completely eliminating tape.

Supporting Quotes

• Marc Crespi, VP of product management for ExaGrid: “We find that more and more customers are choosing ExaGrid over Data Domain appliances because of our architecture purpose-built for backup and our overall approach to backup. Our GRID architecture is attractive to many companies who want to maintain fast backups as data grows and manage backup costs over time. ExaGrid’s solution is the only one designed to scale seamlessly as data grows, as compared to single controller systems which burden the IT user with a forklift upgrade to avoid expanding backup windows. In addition, customers rave about the quality and responsiveness of our technical support team and have given ExaGrid support world-class NetPromoter® ratings for their knowledge of backup, expertise, and proactive approach to ensuring customer success.”

Important Features and Benefits of the ExaGrid EX Series Appliance

ExaGrid's unique approach to disk-based backup delivers unparalleled performance and scalability without requiring costly forklift upgrades as data grows. ExaGrid customers achieve the fastest backup times because data is written directly to disk, data deduplication is performed post-process after the data is stored but most importantly ExaGrid adds full servers as data grows which include processor, memory, disk and bandwidth versus just adding disk. This unique approach ensures that the backup window does not re-explode as it would with other approaches. In addition, ExaGrid's GRID scalability enables organizations to store up to a 130TB full backup plus retention.

ExaGrid’s disk backup system with data deduplication supports the industry’s leading backup applications and utilities, including CA ARCserve, CommVault Simpana, EMC NetWorker, HP Data Protector, IBM® Tivoli® Storage Manager, Idera SQLsafe, Linux/Unix File System Data Dumps, LiteSpeed for SQL Server, Microsoft SQL dump, Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN), Quest vRanger, Red Gate SQL Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Symantec NetBackup, Veeam Backup & Replication, and VMware Backup.

Resources

• ExaGrid’s Customer Success Stories
• Video Testimonials from ExaGrid Customers
• ExaGrid YouTube Channel
• ExaGrid on LinkedIn
• ExaGrid’s Eye on Deduplication blog
• Twitter newsfeed – @ExaGrid

About ExaGrid Systems, Inc.:
ExaGrid offers the only disk-based backup appliance with data deduplication purpose-built for backup that leverages a unique architecture optimized for performance, scalability and price. The combination of post-process deduplication, most recent backup cache, and GRID scalability enables IT departments to achieve the shortest backup window and the fastest, most reliable restores, tape copy, and disaster recovery without performance degradation or forklift upgrades as data grows. With offices and distribution worldwide, ExaGrid has more than 3,800 systems installed, more than 1,100 customers, and 260 published customer success stories and video testimonials.
For more information, contact ExaGrid at 800-868-6985 or visit www.exagrid.com.  Visit “ExaGrid’s Eye on Deduplication” blog: http://blog.exagrid.com/.

ExaGrid is a registered trademark of ExaGrid Systems, Inc.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.