Question 1

What is Nexodata Zero-Capture?

Accepted Answer

Nexodata Zero-Capture is geo-distributed data storage protection software that uses CAONT (Convergent All-or-Nothing Transform) erasure coding to make stolen data mathematically worthless. It fragments data and distributes it across 3 or more geographic sites so that no single site holds a complete copy. Even if attackers compromise an entire site, the fragments they capture are mathematically useless.

Question 2

How does Zero-Capture protect against data exfiltration and ransomware?

Accepted Answer

Zero-Capture uses CAONT network coding to split data into fragments distributed across 3+ geographic locations. Without 100% of fragments, attackers cannot reconstruct even a single byte of useful data. This is not encryption-based so there are no keys to steal and the protection is quantum-safe. After any suspected breach, fragments can be rapidly reshuffled, permanently invalidating any previously exfiltrated data.

Question 3

What is CAONT and how does it work?

Accepted Answer

CAONT stands for Convergent All-or-Nothing Transform. It is a patented cryptographic technique that replaces AONT's random key with a deterministic hash, enabling deduplication while maintaining information-theoretic security. Combined with network coding, it achieves data confidentiality with only n/k storage overhead instead of the n-times blowup of traditional secret sharing. Fewer than k fragments reveal zero information about the original data.

Question 4

How does Nexodata Zero-Capture compare to S3 Glacier?

Accepted Answer

S3 Glacier offers low per-GB storage costs but charges $0.09+/GB for egress, making a 100TB recovery cost $9,000 or more. Retrieval takes hours to days and data sovereignty is controlled by AWS. Zero-Capture has zero egress fees, provides immediate data access without rehydration delays, offers customer-controlled data sovereignty, and is S3-compatible. Zero-Capture also provides exfiltration protection through CAONT while Glacier relies only on encryption.

Question 5

What is geographic erasure coding?

Accepted Answer

Geographic erasure coding distributes erasure-coded fragments across physically separate sites rather than keeping them within a single data center. Nexodata Zero-Capture is purpose-built for WAN-distributed erasure coding, distributing fragments across 3 or more sites including on-premises, sovereign cloud, or hyperscaler regions. This provides full site failure tolerance where any one site can go offline completely without data loss.

Question 6

How much storage overhead does Zero-Capture require?

Accepted Answer

Zero-Capture requires only 50% storage overhead compared to 200-300% for traditional replication. For example, 100TB of archive data requires 150TB total with Zero-Capture versus 300TB or more with traditional replication. A 200TB archive saves 300TB of storage capacity while still providing multi-site fault tolerance and exfiltration protection.

Question 7

Does Nexodata Zero-Capture work with Veeam, Cohesity, and Commvault?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Zero-Capture is fully S3-compatible and integrates as a storage target behind existing backup infrastructure. Cohesity DataProtect integration has been validated in production POC testing. Veeam Backup and Replication, Commvault Complete, and Rubrik CDM are all compatible via standard S3 configuration. Any application that can target an S3 endpoint can write to and read from Zero-Capture with no rip-and-replace required.

Question 8

How does Zero-Capture handle data sovereignty for Canadian organizations?

Accepted Answer

Zero-Capture provides data sovereignty by design. Customers control exactly where nodes are deployed including on-premises data centers, sovereign cloud providers like ThinkOn, or hyperscaler regions within Canada such as AWS ca-central. No data traverses international boundaries unless the customer explicitly chooses it. Fragment distribution means even within Canada, no single site holds complete data. This meets PIPEDA and provincial data residency requirements.

Question 9

What happens if Nexodata goes away? Is my data locked in?

Accepted Answer

Zero-Capture runs on your infrastructure including your VMs and your cloud instances. The platform uses standard erasure coding, so data does not disappear with the vendor. There is no vendor lock-in because Zero-Capture is S3-compatible and portable. This makes it more resilient than single-cloud dependency where switching providers involves expensive and complex migration.

Question 10

How long does it take to deploy Nexodata Zero-Capture?

Accepted Answer

Zero-Capture follows a 30-60 day proof of concept framework. Weeks 1-2 cover setup and configuration including credential provisioning, node deployment across 3 VM locations, and S3 bucket validation. Weeks 3-4 focus on integration and testing with your backup platform. Weeks 5-8 cover validation including site failure simulation, throughput benchmarking, and operational review. Minimum requirements are 4 vCPU and 8GB RAM per node.

Question 11

How does Zero-Capture reduce the cost of a data breach?

Accepted Answer

Because stolen data fragments are mathematically useless to attackers, Zero-Capture reduces breach damages across every cost component. Ransom payments are eliminated because attackers have no leverage. Downtime shrinks from months to weeks. Breach response is simplified because data loss is immaterial. Regulatory fines under GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI can be reduced through demonstrating that exfiltrated data was not reconstructable. Zero-Capture reduces a corporate crisis to an IT recovery incident.

Question 12

Is Nexodata Zero-Capture quantum-safe?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Zero-Capture protection is based on information-theoretic security through CAONT, not on computational assumptions that could be broken by quantum computers. Unlike encryption-dependent solutions, there is no central key store, no HSM or KMS to target. Cryptographic material is distributed across all fragments. This means the protection remains effective regardless of advances in quantum computing.