The main developers behind the popular Ceph open-source storage framework announced today that they have created a new company, dubbed Inktank, to provide paid support and consulting for the system.

EMC today announced it has qualified its Data Domain Boost software for use with Oracle Recovery Manager, allowing data deduplication to take place on Oracle backup servers prior to crossing a storage network.

Cloud file-sharing service provider Druva announced Version 5.0 of its inSync software, which offers unified backup and data access in either an on-premises model or a SaaS model.

The National Geographic Society announced that it will now back up and archive its large unstructured multimedia files on Nirvanix's Cloud Storage Network. Physical storage upgrades, along with the data migration process, have become too expensive and unwieldy, the organization said; it expects to save money in the six-figure range by not having to invest in any further upgrades.

Quantum today announced an enterprise-class backup service that includes data deduplication aimed at protecting data in virtual server environments.

Virtualizing x86 infrastructure isn't just a one-step process -- as servers change, the whole data center must change as well. While server hypervisors such as VMware's ESX, Microsoft's Hyper-V and Xen can make IT more efficient and cost-effective, many of the virtualization advantages can be canceled out when data centers rely on technology and processes that haven't been updated for the virtualization age.