Heidi Biggar, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group Inc., in Milford, Mass., said that while introducing data compression means NetApp is taking the necessary steps to help users optimize VTL capacity, the industry is still waiting for data de-duplication support, which the vendor has also promised.

Padmanabhan said the company was still working on developing de-duplication technology that did not reduce backup performance.

The NearStore VTL300 starts at US$99,000 with one disk shelf and 10TB of storage. The NearStore VTL700 starts at $154,000 with one disk shelf and 10TB of storage. The NearStore VTL1400, which has a dual head, starts at $238,000 with 20TB of storage. All three are available now.

Existing NearStore VTL models will continue to be sold. In addition, NetApp offers an in-place upgrade to the new models, Padmanabhan said.