WD Discretly Buried Arkeia

We were alerted about this information by Engelbert Hörmannsdorfer, news editor, Speicherguide, and a press release from SEP in Germany.

But sometimes it’s not easy to get confirmation from companies.

Here is the strange dialog we had by emails with Steve Shattuck, senior director of public relations at Western Digital, concerning subsidiary Arkeia in network backup software.

Question: What happens to Arkeia at WD, is it closed?
Answer: WD has been developing a full portfolio of network storage solutions for a number of years and is focusing its product development and marketing strategies on NAS products for consumers and professionals. For our WD Arkeia network backup business customers, we are maintaining our emphasis on the core software value we deliver and shifting away from hardware appliances. We will continue servicing current WD Arkeia customers through the extent of their existing maintenance contracts and sustaining the software. WD Arkeia core technology provides the company with innovative IP for protecting data and is a valued piece of WD’s technology portfolio moving forward.
Q: Does it mean that Arkeia Network Backup v11.0 will be the last version of the software and will not be enhanced? Or finally that WD is no more in separate storage software business, but just for its own NAS? I already remark that SEP in Germany  – as well as Novastor – is offering an alternative to WD Arkeia in Europe.
A: WD Arkeia version 11 will be sustained and updated to fully support existing customers.
Q: For existing customers only?
A: Yes, for existing customers.
Q: So what I understand is that WD discretly buried Arkeia.
A: I would reiterate that WD Arkeia core technology provides the company with innovative IP for protecting data and is a valued piece of WD’s technology portfolio moving forward.

So what we understand is that WD continues to support only the existing customers of Arkeia, will not search anymore new ones and will keep the software IP only for its own NAS. Announcing recently an update of Arkeia software, the company stated: “WD, a Western Digital company, announced Arkeia software upgrade with version 11.0, including Windows bare-metal recovery and integration with WD business NAS solutions.”

As usual in the industry, there as a press release announcing the acquisition of Arkeia but no one for the closing.

WD always was an hardware manufacturer and never succeeds in software only. Later Arkeia was also offering backup appliances competing with several WD’s customers of HDDs, WD Re and Red, especially designed for NAS.

In 2013, WD acquired French company Arkeia Software for an amount not disclosed. It was the third deal of WD in software after ViaNetix in 1987 and MioNet in 2007. Arkeia got a total of $10 million in two financial funding rounds in 2004 and 2007. It was created in 1996 and put on the market in 1999 one of the first Linux backup and recovery software, a remarkable product. Arkeia solutions safeguard today more than 100,000 networks for 7,000 customers in 70 countries, according to WD.