Quantum has announced that its DXi6500 family of disk backup and deduplication appliances and StorNext 4.0 data management and archiving software have been named Storage magazine/SearchStorage.com 2010 Products of the Year finalists in the "Backup Hardware" and "Storage Management Tools" categories, respectively. They were selected from among 200 entries in the 8th Annual Storage Magazine/SearchStorage.com Products of the Year Awards, which recognize enterprise data storage equipment vendors and their technological developments based on innovation, functionality and value.

Quantum's DXi6500 family provides a simple and cost-effective solution for user backup challenges. The DXi6500 products integrate disk-to-disk backup-and-restore performance that include a simple NAS interface, built-in deduplication and replication, support for Symantec's OpenStorage (OST) API, and backup software for VMware environments. With Quantum's patented data deduplication technology, DXi6500 solutions reduce typical disk requirements by 90 percent and scale easily as data grows, up to 56 TB capacity. Moreover, DXi6500 replicates encrypted backup data between sites using deduplication to reduce typical network bandwidth requirements by a factor of 20 for disaster recovery protection and provide direct tape creation for long-term retention.

Designed for scale-out data management, StorNext software delivers simultaneous, high-speed file sharing with advanced data archiving across heterogenous server platforms and storage systems. Key new features in StorNext 4.0 include replication, native file system deduplication, distributed data movers, partial file retrieval and a streamlined management console. Ideal for media and entertainment, oil and gas, life sciences and other high-performance computing environments, StorNext 4.0 builds on Quantum's expertise in delivering workflow and tiered storage solutions for greater efficiency and reduced management overhead.

"In just a little more than a year, Quantum has refreshed and expanded nearly its entire portfolio of disk, software and tape products, including introducing DXi6500 and StorNext 4.0," said Mike Dickstein, senior vice president, Marketing and Alliances, Quantum. "We are very pleased to have them recognized as Products of the Year finalists, as these accolades reinforce the overall strength of Quantum's data protection and management offerings and the superior value they provide to customers."