Kashya KBX5000 unites two worlds.

All the noise surrounding continuous data protection (CDP) has been escalating since the term was first rolled out last fall at Storage Networking World. But one of the consistent sounds that rise above the noise is the warning that CDP is not a disaster recovery solution. It is routinely not a replication-type approach.

Continuous data protection uses disk technology to continuously capture updates to data in real time or near real time. Primary result: Backup windows become irrelevant because backup is occurring all the time. Secondary result: Files can be available at spinning-disk speeds.

CDP alone doesn't address disaster recovery, meaning it does not provide protection in the event of the loss of a site. To address this need, CDP can be supplemented either by replication or by traditional backup with off-site tape protection.

But the KBX5000 from Kashya (San Jose, CA) unites both worlds. The appliance offers CDP in one active module and remote/local replication in another. To my knowledge, this is the only single, fully-integrated solution available. Kashya is already an established player in the replication space, but the new appliance takes them deeper into the increasingly sophisticated world of data protection

It is certainly a cost-conscious solution, with storage and bandwidth cost advantages built in. It also offers a replacement value, in that it is possible to do without a variety of hardware and software products that usually need to be bundled for synchronous and asynchronous replication, snapshotting and disk-based CDP.

CDP solutions typically do not protect against site failure, probably the major weakness in the technology. But by melding CDP with Kashya's already reliable replication capability, it is possible to recover to an alternate site as well as recover to specific points in time.

The two modules include:

* The KBX5000 CDP module eliminates the risky and time consuming tasks needed to backup to and recover from tape and allows recovery with no data loss and recovery time objectives (RTOs) in minutes instead of hours or days. It maintains journals of all data changes at a local and/or remote site and enables immediate recovery to any point-in-time.

Unlike most CDP solutions that have no disaster recovery component, Kashya's KBX5000 CRR (continuous remote replication) module offers the same any point in time recovery and complete protection from site disasters with no distance limitations.

Although CDP solutions are unlikely to replace traditional backup and recovery strategies in the near term, Kashya's new appliance brings the day nearer with an effective one-two punch. One: a CDP engine. Two: DR capability via replication. Let your TCO analysis tell you the rest.