Ingram Micro to Distribute Data Domain

Ingram Micro today announced it will distribute Data Domain's deduplication storage systems, including the emerging vendor’s virtualization, disaster recovery and backup technology.

The agreement covers Data Domain's complete line, including the Appliance Series, DDX Array Series, Gateway Series, Replicator Software, Virtual Tape Library Software and the new DD120 remote office protection system. Data Domain's line will be available to resellers through Ingram Micro's Infrastructure Technology Solutions (ITS) division. The move is Data Domain’s first foray into the broadline distribution sector.

Data Domain was on Ingram resellers' "Most Wanted" list for some time, said Scott Look, vice president of ITS. He said that while competing vendors such as IBM, EMC and Quantum offered similar products, Data Domain set the standard for deduplication in the storage area and was front of mind for resellers offering storage, virtualization and disaster recovery technology.

Deduplication ties in closely with a server and storage virtualization or a data consolidation strategy, said Look, since both are concerned with reducing data capacity and increasing data integrity and security. 

Shane Jackson, director of channel product marketing at Data Domain, said the vendor’s products offer a great opportunity for partners to return to virtualization software customers and help develop comprehensive deduplication and virtualization solutions.

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Bill Valentz of Strategic Allied Technologies, an Ingram reseller in Birmingham, Ala., said he was looking forward to working with the Data Domain products and that the agreement would let him offer his customers an affordable way to do data replication offsite.

"This is a great disaster recovery and business continuity product for midmarket companies [that] wouldn't be able to afford one otherwise," Valentz said. He added that the ability to back up a company's data to disk and compress that data into a smaller footprint would save his customers from storage sprawl and also cut physical media and energy costs.  

The Data Domain products are available starting March 31 and are focused on VARs selling into the midmarket and larger enterprise customers. Ingram Micro's ITS division will offer pre-sales technical support, inside sales and technical resources and support, marketing programs, aggressive pricing, tech support and access to Ingram's field sales consultants for both Data Domain and Ingram Micro resellers.