BridgeSTOR, LLC, redefining the cost per terabyte equation through advanced data reduction appliances for the SMB, today introduced its Virtual Storage-Advanced Data Reduction (VS-ADR) Simulator tool that enables storage managers to predict the effects of deduplication and compression on their primary storage capacity requirements.

Available now from the BridgeSTOR website, the VS-ADR Simulator provides detailed information about the effectiveness and value of primary storage data reduction technologies using samples of actual production or test data. Results of the Simulator scan are provided in a text file report and graphically depicted in an Excel spreadsheet to visually show how BridgeSTOR’s VS-ADR appliances can reduce both structured and unstructured application data stored by a business in primary data volumes.

“The explosive adoption rate of VMware is causing small and medium businesses to rethink their storage strategies. Racks that were once filled with servers have been replaced by a handful of VMware ESX servers. Now, with BridgeSTOR’s VS-ADR, racks filled with disk drives are becoming an endangered species,” said John Matze, BridgeSTOR founder and CEO. “The Simulator gives the storage manager insight into how aggressively VMware VMDK files, SQL data, shared home directory and other data can be size-reduced, saving both capital and operating dollars. BridgeSTOR’s Advanced Data Reduction is today’s answer to controlling the growth of primary and application storage capacity.”

By combining primary and secondary storage deduplication, compression and “Disk on Demand” thin provisioning to reduce storage requirements, BridgeSTOR’s VS-ADR saves disk capacity, reduces storage management time and complexity, and minimizes power consumption, cooling, and floor and rack space requirements. Depending on the data, the deduplication component of BridgeSTOR’s VS-ADR typically reduces unstructured application data by 10 to 80 percent. Compression works on the deduplicated data, as well as on blocks that do not deduplicate, shrinking the amount of capacity required to be stored by as much as an additional 50 percent.

BridgeSTOR VS-ADR appliances are available through select channel partners. Please see http://www.bridgestor.com/ to locate a partner or for more information.