Data Domain Corporation
| Company type | Public (until acquisition) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Data storage, Data deduplication |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Founder | Kai Li, Ben Zhu, Brian Biles |
| Headquarters | Palo Alto, California , United States |
Key people | Hugo Patterson (Chief Architect), Frank Slootman (former CEO) |
| Products | Data deduplication storage solutions |
| Parent | EMC Corporation (from 2009), later Dell EMC |
Dell EMC Data Domain represented the data deduplication storage solution initially developed by Data Domain and subsequently advanced following its acquisition by EMC Corporation and the later merger of EMC with Dell, resulting in the formation of Dell EMC.
History
This technology was originally created by an independent company, which was later purchased and underwent two rebranding phases.
Data Domain Corporation
Data Domain Corporation was established in 2001 by founders Kai Li, Ben Zhu, and Brian Biles, focusing on target-based data deduplication solutions designed for disk backup systems. Shortly after securing initial investment, Hugo Patterson joined the team as chief architect. The company operated out of venture capital offices near Palo Alto, California, with Zhu and Li serving as entrepreneurs in residence at U.S. Venture Partners and New Enterprise Associates (NEA), respectively. Series A funding was provided in 2002 by NEA and Greylock Partners.
Revenue generation from the first product began in early 2004.
Funding, IPO and Acquisition
In 2002, Data Domain secured $9.3 million in Series A financing led by NEA and Greylock. The following year, Sutter Hill Ventures spearheaded a $17 million Series B round, with NEA and Greylock participating once more. By 2005, total investments from these venture firms reached $40 million.
The company went public on June 27, 2007, achieving a market valuation of $776.5 million that surpassed initial predictions despite previous financial losses. Shares were priced at $15 each during the IPO—above the anticipated $11.50 to $13.50 range—and were traded on Nasdaq under the ticker DDUP.
EMC Data Domain
In May 2009, NetApp announced intentions to acquire Data Domain for approximately $1.5 billion; however, EMC Corporation outbid NetApp with a $2.4 billion offer in June 2009, completing the acquisition by July of that year. Afterward, Data Domain continued as a distinct brand and product line within EMC under the name EMC Data Domain.
Frank Slootman, former CEO, chronicled his tenure leading the company in a book published in 2011.
Following the acquisition, EMC incorporated Data Domain’s technology into its Data Protection Suite software and expanded its feature set. A study sponsored by EMC in 2013 emphasized Data Domain’s effectiveness in minimizing productivity losses related to backup and data recovery processes.
Dell EMC Data Domain
After EMC merged with Dell in 2016, the Data Domain brand remained active under Dell EMC until 2019 when it transitioned to the PowerProtect DD product line. This rebranding was part of Dell EMC’s initiative to modernize and consolidate its data protection offerings for commercial enterprises as well as remote office/branch office (ROBO) environments.
Technologies
Data Domain technology was developed to substitute tape libraries with disk-based backup systems that utilize rapid, lossless data compression tailored for streaming data environments. This inline deduplication process compared incoming data blocks against previously stored content, providing notable improvements in speed and storage efficiency relative to tape solutions. Distinct from conventional storage devices, Data Domain prioritized data preservation beyond the hardware’s operational lifespan, addressing archiving and regulatory compliance requirements.
Offered as a file system appliance, Data Domain integrated dedicated hardware, a proprietary operating system, and a custom file system to deliver consistent performance and easier administration compared to purely software-based or virtual tape library alternatives.
To enhance both capacity and throughput capabilities, Data Domain launched the DDX Array—a rack-mounted configuration that linked multiple appliances functioning as controllers. This array could further extend storage by incorporating external third-party hardware, thereby boosting performance and scaling capacity beyond individual appliances.
Products and Services
The inaugural Data Domain model, the DD200 released in 2004, provided 1.25 TB of storage and supported data ingestion speeds of 40 MB per second. Its architecture favored CPU and RAM utilization over disk input/output operations, allowing performance gains aligned with advancements in Intel processor technology.
In May 2008, the company introduced the DD690 model featuring quad-core processors and an increased data intake capacity of 166 MB per second. This rack-mounted device was capable of clustering into a "DDX Array" configuration to facilitate scalable performance enhancements.
By 2018, under Dell EMC’s ownership, the DD9800 system delivered up to 50 PB of addressable storage (depending on setup) with data ingestion rates reaching 8611 MB per second, demonstrating substantial progress in enterprise-level backup and deduplication functionality.