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Data protection initiatives may fall flat without these three key attributes

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4 years ago

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Data protection

Benchmarks show Huawei’s OceanProtect surpasses peer

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, November 22, 2022/APO Group/ — 

As modern enterprises hail data as the lifeblood of their business, comprehensive data protection has become paramount. Indeed, the accelerated pace of digital transformation in recent years has made data a fundamental and strategic business resource as well as a key production factor.

Already, data is being generated, consumed and stored at an unprecedented pace. According to IDC, global data creation and replication is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 23 percent from 2020 to 2025. In 2020, 64.2 ZB of data were created or replicated. The research firm reckons that the amount of digital data created over the next five years will be greater than twice the amount of data created since the advent of digital storage.

The data deluge is prompting prudent companies to refocus IT budgets on protecting data, especially their most critical business asset – production data.

Efficiency, performance, reliability

The cost of data protection aside, the major challenge for IT is to mitigate the risk of a devastating data loss in the face of mounting ransomware attacks and data breaches.

Further, the rapid development cycles of modern cloud-native application environments and evolving data-intensive applications – such as artificial intelligence, automation, Internet of Things and video surveillance – have increased the required levels of protection, performance and scale dramatically.

Such demands overwhelm the capabilities of traditional backup tools. In this exacting IT landscape, enterprises need data protection solutions that bear three critical attributes: highly efficient data reduction rates, fast backup and recovery performance, and highly reliable and available data copies

Data reduction efficiency enables enterprises to store and transfer large amounts of backup data expeditiously so they can optimize investments in storage hardware, increase effective capacity and reduce total cost of ownership.

Fast backup and recovery performance enables businesses to minimize operational downtime or disruption, especially in the aftermath of a ransomware attack. Underpinning these is reliability. Having a good, clean backup to recover from lays the foundation for an effective data protection strategy.

Geared to deliver these benefits, the Huawei OceanProtect data protection solution adopts a unified approach – protecting exabytes of structured and unstructured data generated by databases, file systems and VMware virtual machines (VMs) – that ensures zero service disruption, zero data loss, and long-term information retention.

Huawei OceanProtect outperforms peer

A recent report (https://bit.ly/3i0CJzG) jointly published by Evaluator Group presented results of comprehensive benchmarking tests that compare the Huawei OceanProtect (https://bit.ly/3ERCIqI) data protection system with a peer product, the Dell EMC PowerProtect DD, based on the three attributes mentioned above.

The test environment was configured for function and performance verification. Network connectivity and hosts had the same configurations. Each data protection system was connected to seven servers through IP switches. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 x86_64 operating system was deployed on four of the servers for performance tests.

VMware virtualization applications and Oracle database applications were deployed on two servers to compare and verify data reduction ratios in different scenarios. The other server was used as the media server for the backup application Veritas NetBackup (NBU).

Rapid backup and recovery

To test backup and recovery speed, the primary tool utilized was vdbench in file mode. The aim is to accurately perform file operations while ensuring high I/O rates to files as desired. The choice of tool removes potential bottlenecks from the backup application as well as any bias for or against any third-party backup application.

The Huawei OceanProtect and Dell EMC PowerProtect systems each included a storage pool created with a 1 PB filesystem. The filesystem was then NFS mounted to eight mount points on each of the four machines running the workloads. High performance optimizations were set for both test systems.

Test results show that Huawei OceanProtect’s Oracle backup performance of 6,853 MB/s was 2.6 times faster than the 2,621 MB/s clocked by the peer product from Dell EMC. In the VM backup performance test, OceanProtect’s speed of 8,004 MB/s was 2.4 times faster than the peer product’s 3,383 MB/s.

The research firm reckons that the amount of digital data created over the next five years will be greater than twice the amount of data created since the advent of digital storage

Next, the write performance of both systems was measured by simulating the first full backup of general applications. Here, Huawei OceanProtect’s 10,591 MB/s was 2.3 times faster than the peer product’s 4.640 MB/s.

Overall, Huawei OceanProtect delivered more than two times faster backup data rates than its leading competitor. The test results bolster Huawei OceanProtect’s status as a solution that creates opportunities for improved system utilization, cost savings and management efficiency.

After the backup simulations, the read bandwidth recovery performance of both systems was simulated and tested. The application restore performance comparison showed that Huawei OceanProtect’s read bandwidth after the first backup is 1.5 times that for the Dell EMC system.

Since the recovery test was performed after the first backup, the read bandwidth of systems like Dell EMC’s, which use rotating media (i.e. hard disk drive), will decline as additional backups are created and backup data become scattered. In contrast, this has little impact on the all-flash OceanProtect system so its recovery speed advantage over those systems would increase with additional backups.

Efficient data reduction

The NBU application was used to verify the data reduction ratios of both products in daily full backups of Oracle database and VM data.

The Oracle database to be backed up was activated with the NBU client installed and user authentication on the NBU client and Oracle database completed. From the management pages of both systems, Evaluator Group observed that the data reduction ratio of Huawei OceanProtect for daily full backup of the Oracle database was 43.4, higher than the 28.1 for the Dell EMC product.

The Linux VM to be backed up was prepared on each solution’s VMware ESXi server. Again, the Huawei OceanProtect’s data reduction ratio of 29.3 for daily full backup of VM data was higher than the peer product’s ratio of 19.7.

By achieving approximately 50 percent greater reduction ratios for various data, Huawei OceanProtect has an effective capacity of nearly 50 percent greater than Dell EMC PowerProtect when configured with the same raw capacity.

OceanProtect’s high data reduction ratios is an endorsement of its efficient usage of data storage infrastructure. Using advanced algorithms and byte-level compaction technologies, OceanProtect breaks data into chunks based on the source and other data characteristics before it deduplicates, compresses and compacts the data further.

High reliability

The Evaluator Group also observed how the simultaneous failure of any three disks in a storage pool affects backup services on both backup storage systems.

The analysts installed and configured the file backup client, prepared the test data, and recorded the Message-Digest algorithm 5 (MD5) value of the test data. They created a 1 TB NFS file share in a storage pool on the Huawei OceanProtect system and a 1 TB Mtree NFS file share in a storage pool on the Dell EMC system. Strikingly, OceanProtect supports RAID triple-parity (RAID-TP) but the peer product does not.

The file shares were mapped to the backup server as a backup storage repository. The analysts then ran a full backup of the files on the two systems. Data from this completed backup was then restored. The success of the recovery was verified by calculating the MD5 value of the restored file and using it to check the integrity of the restored data.

Meanwhile, the full backup job was run on the common file again. When this job was initiated, three disks were removed from the storage pool. Then, the status and alarms of the affected storage pool as well as the running status of the backup task were checked.

Consequently, the backup services of Huawei OceanProtect remained normal and showed no loss of access to data, but the backup services of the peer product from Dell EMC reported errors. Equipped with dual-controller active-active architecture, RAID-TP and ransomware prevention technologies, Huawei OceanProtect is well positioned to deliver 99.9999 percent availability, as can be shown by real-life examples beyond the lab.

Conclusion

The Evaluator Group’s test results evidently show that the Huawei OceanProtect outperforms the peer product in all three critical aspects: data reduction ratio, backup and recovery speed, and reliability.

Significantly, Huawei OceanProtect’s superior capabilities translate to shorter backup windows and data recovery times, reduced expenditure, and higher levels of uptime. They also affirm OceanProtect’s trustworthiness as an intelligent all-flash backup storage designed to address enterprises’ data protection pain points in a dynamic, data-intensive digital economy.

To know more about Huawei OceanProtect, please click here (https://bit.ly/3OtHihX).

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Huawei Enterprise.

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SLB commissions new fluids systems plant in Pemba to support Mozambique’s offshore energy development

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3 days ago

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October 9, 2026

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Mozambique

New facility expands in-country drilling and completion fluids capability, advancing the next phase of SLB’s growth in Mozambique

PEMBA, Mozambique, October 9, 2026/APO Group/ –SLB (NYSE: SLB) (www.SLB.com) announced the opening of a new fluids systems plant in Pemba, Mozambique. The new facility strengthens in-country capacity to prepare, store and deliver drilling and completion fluids for offshore operations, reinforcing the infrastructure needed as Mozambique’s offshore activity grows and its role as a strategic energy hub for East Africa continues to expand.

The commissioning of the plant, also known as a liquid mud plant, coincides with SLB marking 70 years of operations in Mozambique. It reflects the company’s long-term commitment to investing in people, infrastructure and capability that support the country’s long-term offshore energy development plans.

 




  

With an initial storage capacity of 21,000 barrels, the liquid mud plant provides a scalable platform for future growth, supporting multiple customers and rising offshore activity while improving logistics and enhancing operational flexibility.

As SLB marks 70 years in Mozambique, this investment reflects our confidence in the country’s future and our commitment to supporting its energy ambitions

“As SLB marks 70 years in Mozambique, this investment reflects our confidence in the country’s future and our commitment to supporting its energy ambitions,” said Miguel Baptista, Central, East and Southern Africa, Managing Director, SLB. The new liquid mud plant strengthens local energy infrastructure, expands opportunities for local content development, and enhances our ability to support customers as they deliver some of Africa’s most significant offshore energy resources.”

The liquid mud plant project was delivered with strong local participation and that momentum is expected to continue into operations. During project delivery, more than 100 jobs were created in Pemba with nationals representing 80% of the workforce, reflecting a focus on building local capability.

The project was delivered with a strong focus on safety, operational integrity, and quality, achieving more than 67,000 hours worked without a recordable safety incident.

This key infrastructure strengthens SLB’s ability to support consistent service quality and enhance supply chain readiness for increasing offshore activity across Mozambique, supporting customers execute safely and efficiently while developing local skills and expertise.

Key Points:

  • SLB has commissioned a new fluids system plant in Pemba, expanding in-country drilling and completion fluids capability for offshore operations.
  • With an initial storage capacity of 21,000 barrels, the facility provides a scalable platform to support growing offshore activity in Mozambique.
  • The investment marks the next phase of SLB’s growth in Mozambique, strengthening local capability and supporting long-term offshore energy development.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of SLB.

 

 




 

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South African Energy Storage Association (SAESA) welcomes 4,600 MW battery storage prioritisation and calls for integrated energy planning

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3 days ago

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October 9, 2026

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Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are becoming critical system infrastructure, supporting flexibility, reducing avoidable curtailment, shifting energy into periods of demand and strengthening security of supply

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, October 9, 2026/APO Group/ –The South African Energy Storage Association (SAESA) (www.SAESA.org.za) welcomes the prioritisation of 4,600 MW of battery energy storage under the first Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2025 Section 34 determination.

 




  

The timing is significant. Recent Integrated Energy Plan (IEP) modelling and assumptions discussions highlighted a fundamental shift that South Africa’s energy planning now needs to capture: we cannot plan the future power system by counting megawatts of generation alone.

We must plan for when energy is available, where it is available, how it moves through a constrained grid and how it is stored and dispatched when the system needs it most.

The announcement reinforces that shift. Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are becoming critical system infrastructure, supporting flexibility, reducing avoidable curtailment, shifting energy into periods of demand and strengthening security of supply.

For SAESA, the message for the IEP is clear: storage, flexibility and system services must be modelled as integral components of South Africa’s future electricity architecture, with their contribution considered from the outset of generation planning.

“The IEP must plan the power system we are becoming, not simply model the power system we have inherited,” says SAESA.

The IEP must plan the power system we are becoming, not simply model the power system we have inherited

Partnership with C&I Energy + Storage Summit

SAESA is an association partner of the C&I Energy + Storage Summit, created by VUKA Group, taking place on 28–29 October 2026 at The Maslow Hotel, Sandton, Johannesburg.

The summit brings together commercial and industrial energy users, project developers, financiers, regulators and solution providers to explore practical approaches to energy security, procurement and storage deployment.

For businesses assessing how storage can support their operations, the event offers an opportunity to meet SAESA and engage with the wider energy community on the decisions shaping South Africa’s evolving electricity system.

Commercial and industrial energy decision-makers are invited to apply to attend as hosted buyers. Qualifying buyers receive complimentary summit access and curated opportunities to engage with industry partners.

 

Meet SAESA at C&I Energy + Storage Summit: Join the Hosted Buyer Programme

The Hosted Buyer Programme connects commercial and industrial energy decision-makers with solution providers shaping South Africa’s evolving private energy market.

Qualified energy buyers receive complimentary access to the summit and curated engagement with industry partners exploring energy procurement, storage deployment and project development.

Apply for the Hosted Buyer Programme (https://apo-opa.co/4ehLijJ)

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of VUKA Group.

 




 

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Afreximbank welcomes launch of Africa Credit Rating Agency as an important step in strengthening Africa’s financial architecture

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3 days ago

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October 9, 2026

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Expanding credible rating coverage can improve the information available to investors and support the development of deeper domestic and regional capital markets

PORT LOUIS, Mauritius, October 8, 2026/APO Group/ –African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com) welcomes today’s launch of the Africa Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA), an important milestone in strengthening Africa’s financial architecture and expanding the continent’s capacity to generate credible, independent analysis of African credit risk.

 




 
 

Credit ratings play an important role in determining access to capital, influencing investor perceptions and shaping the cost at which governments, institutions and businesses can finance development. It is therefore essential that assessments of African credit risk are independent, rigorous and evidence-based, while reflecting a complete understanding of the structures, institutions and economic realities being assessed.

The establishment of AfCRA adds an important African-led source of credit opinion to the market. Its value will not be measured by whether it produces more favourable ratings, but by the credibility of its analysis, the quality of its data and transparency of its methodology, and its ability to deepen understanding of African sovereigns, sub-sovereigns and corporate credit.

This is particularly important given that many African issuers remain unrated, while local-currency and sub-sovereign markets continue to have limited rating coverage. Expanding credible rating coverage can improve the information available to investors and support the development of deeper domestic and regional capital markets.

AfCRA must set a new benchmark for the continent, maintain its independence, and remain wholly owned and controlled by Africans

Alongside fellow members of the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI), Afreximbank has consistently maintained that African Multilateral Financial Institutions should be assessed on the basis of their fundamentals, performance, legal frameworks, mandates and operating models. Ensuring that these institutional characteristics are properly understood is essential to achieving informed, balanced and credible assessments of African risk.

Commenting on the uniqueness of the African market, and need for AfCRA’s rating methodology to reflect this, Mr Denys Denya, Senior Executive Vice President, Afreximbank, said: “The rating methodology AfCRA develops must recognise the uniqueness of our environment and its institutional structures. The Agency must set its own standards and not follow those set elsewhere — it must build a unique identity that conforms to an ‘African best practice.”

Highlighting the need for the autonomy of the Africa Credit Rating agency as it takes off, Mr Denya added: “Most importantly, AfCRA must set a new benchmark for the continent, maintain its independence, and remain wholly owned and controlled by Africans. We must all use it, and in return expect a complete assessment of where we (Africa) stand: the strengths the market has ignored, and the weaknesses we still need to fix.”

AfCRA should therefore be seen as complementary to existing international and regional rating agencies, broadening the range of credible analysis available to investors and issuers while strengthening competition, transparency and analytical capacity within Africa’s credit markets.

As Africa seeks to mobilise the scale of capital required for industrialisation, trade, infrastructure and economic transformation, credible African institutions that improve information, strengthen market confidence and deepen the continent’s financial markets will become increasingly important.

Afreximbank congratulates the African Union, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and all those involved in bringing AfCRA from concept to launch, and looks forward to the contribution the Agency will make to deeper, more transparent and more efficient African capital markets.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Afreximbank.

 




 

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