Remote replication of backup data has been proposed as a solution in the past, but in fact the amount of backup data and the cost of bandwidth have prevented it from being a viable solution - that is until now. Data de-duplication technology is changing the equation by applying the same kind of power to replication that it provides for storing backup data on disk. When de-duplication is applied to remote replication, the power of WANs to move backup data is increased by 10 to 50 times. The result is that replication, and disk backup, can dramatically increase their roles in the data protection process.