EMC (NYSE: EMC) has announced upgrades to its backup product line to better protect virtual server environments and to capitalize on the fast-growing market for data de-duplication (define).

The products getting an overhaul include EMC's tools for analysis and reporting, data de-duplication and replication.

EMC NetWorker, the company's flagship backup and recovery software, gets support for Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Hyper-V, SharePoint and other Windows applications, better management of VMware (NYSE: VMW) Infrastructure, and expanded support for EMC software and storage arrays, including EMC RecoverPoint, HomeBase and Symmetrix TimeFinder.

Avamar, EMC's source-based de-duplication software, is getting new security and capacity reporting features, easier management and small configurations for remote and branch offices.

Data Protection Advisor, the company's analysis and reporting software acquired from WysDM, gets support for VMware and EMC Celerra unified storage systems, plus expanded support of EMC Avamar and Data Domain (NASDAQ: DDUP) dedupe platforms and NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) devices.

And RecoverPoint, EMC's CDP (define) solution acquired from Kashya, is getting support for VMware Site Recovery Manager, Microsoft cluster integration, and virtual provisioning (define) support for EMC Clariion CX4 systems.

RecoverPoint is also getting a big increase in its distance capabilities, with synchronous data protection now available up to 30 km, said Rob Emsley, EMC's senior director of product marketing.

Emsley said demand remains strong for data de-deduplication technology even in the current economic environment, as 20-to-1 data reduction ratios promise "very fast payback."

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"The world of disk-based protection has become much more available because of de-duplication," he said.

Emsley said the four products — Data Protection Advisor, NetWorker, Avamar and RecoverPoint — are not "four disparate solutions," but have been integrated to form a comprehensive backup product portfolio.

RecoverPoint 3.1 is available now, while Data Protection Advisor 5.0, NetWorker 7.5 and Avamar 4.1 will become available next month.

This story originally appeared on Enterprise Storage Forum.