A method comprising: communicating a sparse index of hashes to a bidding match module of each store of a plurality of stores on which an object is distributed, wherein the sparse index of hashes represents signatures of chunks of first data associated with the object; comparing, by the bidding match module , the sparse index against a list of signatures stored in the store , wherein a successful sparse index match is held in random access memory; in response to the communication, receiving , by a route module of a client application , bid responses indicating numbers of signatures of the chunks stored on the respective at least some of the plurality of stores that match the communicated signatures and indicating other information about the store , the other information including storage capacity and storage utilization; regulating on which store of the plurality of stores deduplicated data associated with the first data is stored based at least in part on the numbers and a pattern of data storage on the stores , wherein the regulating comprises biasing storage of the deduplicated data to be on one of the stores on which most recently deduplicated data associated with the object was stored; receiving , by a compression module , the matched signatures of the chunks from a matching module to inform the compression module of unique chunks, wherein unique chunks are chunks that are not stored on the one of the stores ; and performing, by the compression module , deduplication to send the unique chunks to a storage module of the one of the stores which commits the unique chunks to the one of the stores . communicating a sparse index of hashes to a bidding match module of each store of a plurality of stores on which an object is distributed, wherein the sparse index of hashes represents signatures of chunks of first data associated with the object; comparing, by the bidding match module , the sparse index against a list of signatures stored in the store , wherein a successful sparse index match is held in random access memory; in response to the communication, receiving , by a route module of a client application , bid responses indicating numbers of signatures of the chunks stored on the respective at least some of the plurality of stores that match the communicated signatures and indicating other information about the store , the other information including storage capacity and storage utilization; regulating on which store of the plurality of stores deduplicated data associated with the first data is stored based at least in part on the numbers and a pattern of data storage on the stores , wherein the regulating comprises biasing storage of the deduplicated data to be on one of the stores on which most recently deduplicated data associated with the object was stored; receiving , by a compression module , the matched signatures of the chunks from a matching module to inform the compression module of unique chunks, wherein unique chunks are chunks that are not stored on the one of the stores ; and performing, by the compression module , deduplication to send the unique chunks to a storage module of the one of the stores which commits the unique chunks to the one of the stores . <EOS>