The new version of the Clariion DL is the CDL 210, which is now the smallest CDL on offer, and carries list prices starting at $50,000. Aiming the box at medium-sized enterprises, EMC quoted an ESG statement that 52% of companies with less than $500m revenue would consider replacing tape with disk-based backup.

Unlike EMC’s previous VTLs, the CDL 210 does not use Clariion CX arrays at the back-end, but entry-level Clariion AX hardware, although it will offer exactly the same VTL software functions and VTL-to-VTL replication as the larger boxes. Up to six AX arrays can be packed into one CDL 210 box, giving a capacity ranging from 4TB to 24TB.

Suiting the mid-range market that the 210 is aimed at, EMC has expanded the number of devices that are qualified for use with the Clariion DL to include lower end tape libraries and backup applications, as well as IBM’s iSeries server hosts. According to EMC, even IBM does not yet support these hosts on its VTL.

The CDL is powered by virtualization software that EMC OEMs from FalconStor Software Corp. The same software also powers VTLs sold by IBM Corp, Sun Microsystems Inc, and 3Pardata Inc.

EMC’s devices will soon however run extra software. This will address a problem experienced with many VTLs that do not allow backup applications’ media catalogs to see beyond the virtual disk-based images of backup tapes, and are not aware when data has been exported to physical tape.

Among other difficulties this can force customers into lengthy two-stage data recoveries, and is overall an objection that was limiting customer deployment options, according to EMC.

I wouldn’t say that it’s an issue with the Clariion DL, more an issue for the whole virtual tape sector. We’re the first to solve it, said Barry Ader, EMC marketing director.

EMC said it has created a storage node or embedded agent within the CDL that will keep backup applications aware of what has been exported, and will ship later in this quarter. But the first version of this software will only work with EMC’s own Legato-inspired NetWorker 7.3 backup software, which only has a small share of the backup software market.

EMC could not say when the Clariion CDL will be able to keep in sync media catalogs for the much bigger selling backup tools from suppliers such as Symantec Corp and IBM Corp.

Other vendors such as Network Appliance Inc or privately-held NearTek Inc would not agree that EMC is the first supplier to address the synchronization issue. NetApp highlighted the ability of its Alacritus-powered VTL to keep master catalogs in sync when it launched that product late last year.

CDL sales have totaled more than 35PB capacity, with more than 600 customers and a 40% repeat buying rate, EMC said.

EMC also announced a virtual tape shredding tool that it said complied with US Department of Defense specifications, and ensures that data is fully erased from disk.