WD has announced two ultra-compact backup appliances: the WD Arkeia DA1300 and DA2300, which offer small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) all-in-one backup and disaster recovery solutions, says Bill Evans, general manager of WD's SMB business unit.

Bundled with the WD Arkeia v10.1 software, these new appliances come with an unlimited numbers of file/folder backup agents on any of over 200 distinct platform types (for example, Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, Novell, BSD)  The software also offers optional specialized agents for hot backups of important applications and databases.

WD Arkeia uses an advanced, patented technology called Progressive Deduplication that reduces storage volume and delivers faster backups, according to Evans. The new WD Arkeia DA1300 and DA2300 backup appliances integrate the Intel Atom dual-core processor and the Intel Xeon processors, respectively.  As with the WD Arkeia's rack-mounted appliances, the DA2300 uses SSD to maximize backup and data recovery performance.

The new cube designs for both models measure 8.1 x 6.3 x 8.8 inches.The entry-level DA1300 features WD Red NAS hard drives. The DA2300 features enterprise-class WD Se hard drives.  Raw storage capacity ranges from 4TB to 8TB for the DA1300 and 8 TB to 16 TB for the DA2300.  Both appliances are field upgradable, and disks are configured in RAID-1.

The WD Arkeia DA1300 will be available in late September, and the DA2300 model will be available later in the fall. Both appliances will be available through select DMRs and WD-authorized value-added resellers (VARs) in the US, Canada and Europe. The manufacturer's suggested retail price, including hardware and software, starts at US$3,490 for the 4 TB DA1300 model. Go to http://www.arkeia.com for more info.