| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer software |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Headquarters | Carlsbad, California, USA |
| Key people | Bill Evans, CEO |
| Products | Arkeia Network Backup, Arkeia Backup Appliance |
| Revenue | Private |
| Employees | 50 |
| Website | http://www.arkeia.com |
Arkeia Network Backup software provides data backup for 200 platforms including Windows, Macintosh, Linux, AIX, BSD and HP-UX. The Arkeia Backup Appliance provides a complete backup solution including Arkeia Network Backup software, integrated disk storage and network connectivity.
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Originally named Knox Software, the company was founded in 1996 by three French engineers, Michel Colzi, Nordine Kherif, and Arnaud Spicht together with CEO Phil Roussel.[1] First incorporated in San Jose, California, the company was reincorporated in France after a $4M Series-A investment in 2004 from SPEF Ventures (Banque Populaire) and Crédit Agricole Private Equity.[2]; this was followed by a $3M Series-B investment by the same investors in 2007.[3]
Licenses for the company's products have generally been "for fee" licenses, but beginning in 1998, it has made available a limited-capability free version. The first free version, Arkeia Light, supported two clients with backup to a single tape drive and was available from 1998 to 2003.[4]The current free version, called Arkeia Network Backup Free Use Edition, is available for download on the company’s website. Reviewing the company's Smart Backup (introduced in 2005 and available until 2007) in Linux User and Developer Magazine, Martin Howse said: “Smart Backup consolidates a more confusing former product range, with a basic product, priced according to the amount of backed up data, and relying on a plugin architecture for more complex integration scenarios.”[5]The Smart Backup product was discontinued in 2007.
In a review of the company's Network Backup software in Linux Magazine, Jason Tower said: “Overall, Arkeia is a solid performer that treats Linux like the champion it is, rather than a second-rate operating system supported only as an afterthought.”[6]Reviewing its Network Backup 6.0, Linux Format Magazine said: "Several major enhancements make their debut in this release. Most notably, support for local area network free storage area network (SAN) backups has been added – a major selling point given how inexpensive SAN devices have become.”[7]
In 2009 the company released its Network Backup 8 which delivers its Network Backup as a system image for VMware virtual machines and includes licenses for a disk-based virtual tape library (VTL) and the company's Backup Agents.[8]In 2009 the company acquired intellectual property and engineering resources from Kadena Systems in a deal that added source-based data deduplication to its Network Backup software. The Kadena technology uses a sliding window approach to identify duplicate data which checks the data stream one byte at a time until it finds blocks that match what the application has seen before. This approach keeps hashing calculations to a minimum.[9]The company released its Network Backup version 8 in the Ubuntu 8.04 LTS repository as a no-cost, small-network package exclusively for Ubuntu users in 2009. One free license of Network Backup Enterprise Edition for Ubuntu is granted per individual or company.[10]The company's Network Backup 9.0 software automatically adjusts block sizes based on file type in order to maximize dedupe ratios.[11]
The company announced its EdgeFort product at Storage Networking World (SNW) in 2007. EdgeFort is an appliance that allows backup administrators to remotely manage backup operations at remote sites without sending data back to headquarters over the WAN.[12]Storage Magazine, in its 2008 review of the EdgeFort 100 appliance, concluded that: “The EdgeFort delivers a smart D2D2T solution that is easy to deploy, and offers an impressive selection of backup and restoration features. Its extensive client support makes it well suited to a range of environments and it is offered at a competitive price as well.”[13]The name of this product was changed to Arkeia Backup Appliance in 2009.