EMC Data Domain DD670 Deduplication Storage System Teardown

Teardown Overview

This teardown is of the Data Domain EMC DD670 Deduplication Storage System. According to the press release the base model (apparently our teardown model) 'includes 12 TB of disk in a 2U rack mount chassis and supports expansion shelves with either 1 TB or 2 TB SATA drives yielding a 2.1 times increase in rack density. Like all Data Domain systems, the DD670 is simple to install and flexible enough to implement into existing user environments without disruption. Data Domain systems offer broad application support on any storage fabric. This includes NFS, CIFS, end-buyers OpenStorage or EMC Data Domain Boost over 1 or 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and/or VTL over Fibre Channel. An 8Gb Fibre Channel connectivity option is also now available for the DD670 and DD880.'

Unlike the Barracuda and Zenith systems we saw that use off the shelf system level components, EMC is known for designing their own motherboards - which is a key differentiator. This gives them more control over the BOM and costs.

The EMC design leverages Intel at it's core which tends to make for a pricier solution overall. With the Zenith and Barracuda systems - because they use 'off the shelf' system level components (Mobos, etc.) it makes it easier to confirm the cost chain from discrete components like integrated circuits, to the price of finished sub-assemblies (ASUS mobo for example). With this system it's more blind - but the ratio between the sub-system cost and the final retail prices leaves a lot of mystery for us. Some of this - in fact much of this must come down to the software/IP portion of the total cost for EMC, NetApp, etc..

In fact, based on what we see in our analysis - even if some of these products are built at 'full retail' subsystem pricing (the kind of pricing that anyone can achieve buying single units) - there is still a huge delta between the total cost of material and the retail pricing which suggests there is a heavy R&D, software and 'other' non-hardware costs to be considered to make these companies profitable.

EMC Data Domain DD670 Deduplication Storage System Main Image

Q3 2010 per press release

Per press release: 'The EMC Data Domain DD670, expansion shelves with 2 TB drives, and the Deduplication Storage Expansion option for DLm960 will be available in Q3 2010. '

Pricing and Availability

~$62,861 USD

$62,681 is the price paid for the EMC DD670 system we purchased for teardown.

Worldwide - 2010

Per press release: 'The EMC Data Domain DD670, expansion shelves with 2 TB drives, and the Deduplication Storage Expansion option for DLm960 will be available in Q3 2010.'

EMC Data Domain DD670 Deduplication Storage System - Motherboard Top

5,000 Total Units
5 Total Years

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we have assumed an Annual Production Volume of 5000 units and a Product Lifetime Volume of 5 year(s).

Teardown volume and production assumptions are primarily used for our cost analysis in terms of amortized NRE and tooling costs, especially for custom components specific to the model being analyzed (mechanical components especially). Unless assumed volumes are different by an order of magnitude, minor changes in volume (say 1 million vs. 2) rarely have a large net effect on our final analysis because of this.

EMC Data Domain DD670 Deduplication Storage System Cost Analysis

Our normal methodology for compiling top cost drivers does not apply here, and we have produced roll ups that more closely emulate the modules and options that end-buyers would be able to buy or negotiate. As an example of what this means, we assume that end-buyers will be more interested in negotiating NIC cards, or RAID controller cards, for example, instead of individual ICs.

We do not normally account for logistics costs or 'other' costs Beyond basic electronic systems and EMS-Level Assembly, teardowns are hardware cost focused. But in order to better chart the cost links in the supply chain, and how that might affect end-buyers we have created a simplified supply chain (in the 'System Cost Analysis' Tab) with rough mark up assumptions (which also should account for logistics cost) between the parties to better account for where our BOM costs are in the grand scheme of 'total cost', or price to the end customer.

Not Included in Analysis

The total materials and manufacturing costs reported in this analysis reflect ONLY the direct materials cost (from component vendors and assorted EMS providers), AND manufacturing with basic test. Not included in this analysis are costs above and beyond the material manufacture of the core device itself - cost of intellectual property, royalties and licensing fees (those not already included into the per component price), software, software loading and test, shipping, logistics marketing and other channel costs including not only EMS provider and the OEM's margin, but that of other resellers. Our cost analysis is meant to focus on those costs incurred in the manufacture of the core device and exceptionally in some circumstances the packaging and literature as well.

We do provide an Excel tab 'Overall Costs' where a user can enter their known pre and post production costs to build a per unit cost reflective of theirs actual expenditures.

Country of Origin

For the purposes of this analysis, we are assuming the following country(ies) of origin for each level of assembly, based on a combination of 'Made In' markings, and/or assumptions based on our knowledge of such equipment.

Box Contents - United States
CPU - China
Drives - China
Memory - China
Motherboard - China
Other - Chassis - China
PCIe NVRAM Module - United States
SAS RAID Controller PCB - China

Country of origin assumptions relate directly to the associated cost of manufacturing, where calculated by iSuppli. In the cases of 'finished' sub-assemblies (such as hard drives), we do not calculate internal manufacturing costs, but rather assess the market price of the finished product in which case country of origin assumptions may or may not have a direct effect on pricing.

Labor rates are applied directly only to hand inserted components and systems in our bill of materials, and although regional assumptions do, these new rates do not have a direct effect on our modeled calculations of placement costs for automated SMD assembly lines. "Auto inserted components (such as SMT components) placement costs are calculated by an iSuppli algorithm which allocates a cost per component based on the size and pincount of the device. This calculation is affected by country or region of origin as well.

EMC Data Domain DD670 Deduplication Storage System - Disassembly View 1

Component counts by assembly and the number of assembly are indicators of design complexity and efficiency.

Component Qty: 12 - Drives
Component Qty: 1 - CPU
Component Qty: 1873 - Other - Chassis
Component Qty: 3674 - Motherboard
Component Qty: 706 - PCIe NVRAM Module
Component Qty: 4 - Memory
Component Qty: 9 - Box Contents
Component Qty: 291 - SAS RAID Controller PCB
Component Qty: 6570 - Grand Tota