WD®, a Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) company and world leader in digital storage solutions, today unveiled the fourth generation of WD  Arkeia™ network backup appliances, delivering an all-in-one backup and disaster recovery solution  for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
 
     The new line up consists of four  rack-mount appliance models with larger internal disk capacities, faster  processors, increased memory, and integrated solid state drives (SSDs) to  shorten backup time and accelerate data recovery. The bundled WD Arkeia v10.1 software delivers new support for “seed and feed”  technology to support hybrid cloud backups. This allows companies to move  backups offsite via network replication rather than shipment of tapes.

      “In announcing their fourth generation of purpose-built network backup  appliances, WD Arkeia is delivering comprehensive SMB backup solutions that go  beyond simple raw capacity increases,” said Liz Conner,  senior research analyst, IDC. “WD Arkeia offers easy-to-use data protection  that takes the guess work out of purchasing, configuring and managing data  backup & recovery, while also embedding features such as deduplication and  hybrid cloud backup for small- and medium-sized businesses or remote offices."

     “WD is committed to providing the growing  SMB marketplace with a comprehensive suite of storage solutions,” said Jim  Welsh, executive vice president and general manager of WD’s branded business  unit. With unique features, these next-generation WD Arkeia network backup  appliances offer solutions providers and their customers a simple, smart way to  protect their data.

Fourth-Generation Performance and Ease-of-Use      Fourth-generation WD Arkeia backup appliances deliver performance and ease-of-use at an affordable price for SMBs. These new appliances extend the upper range of WD Arkeia appliances and complement available lower-range appliances. WD Arkeia R120s and R220s, both with optional LTO4 tape drives, integrate dual-core Atom and quad-core Xeon processors, respectively.  Existing appliances deliver disk capacities from 2 TB to 12 TB and will also bundle WD Arkeia v10.1. The new fourth-generation appliances offer: 

• Increased  Backup and Recovery Speed: New features include  integrated LTO5 tape drives, processor upgrades to a maximum of 2 hex-core  Intel® Xeon®, integrated SSDs on select models, and memory up to 96 GB to allow  for increased data backup and recovery speeds of both files and disk images. WD Arkeia’s patented Progressive  Deduplication™ technology accelerates backups by compressing data at source  computers before transfer over local area networks (LANs) or wide area networks  (WANs). 
• Higher  Storage Capacity: Storage capacity doubles from the third  generation, with raw capacity now ranging up to 48 TB, configured in RAID-6.  
• Improved       Ease-of-Use: Version 10.1 of WD Arkeia software, delivered       with the new generation, includes an on-boarding wizard to streamline the       appliance setup process.  
• Storage  Reliability: All new WD Arkeia appliances feature WD  enterprise-class WD RE™ hard drives for maximum data integrity. 
• Simplified Tape-free, Offsite Storage:  Version 10.1 of WD Arkeia software extends support for hybrid cloud backup  capabilities to the full line of WD Arkeia appliances. “Seed and feed”  capabilities allow administrators to supplement network replication of backup  sets offsite by using USB-connected hard drives to transfer initial and large  backup sets and also to size WAN bandwidth for the replication of nightly  incremental backups. 

Pricing and Availability
  WD Arkeia fourth  generation network backup appliances – models RA4300, RA4300T, RA5300, RA6300 –  will be available in July 2013 through select DMR’s and WD-authorized  value-added resellers (VARs) in the US, Canada, and Europe.  Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price,  including hardware and software, begins at $9,990  USD.  WD Arkeia network  backup appliances are covered by one year of unlimited access to technical  support, one year of software updates, and a one-year limited hardware  warranty.