Veritas Adds Protection for Desktops, Laptops

Veritas Software brought its “Project Shadow” into the light Tuesday when it unveiled a new backup and recovery option to provide always-on data protection for corporate PCs such as desktops and laptops.

The Mountain View, Calif. maker of storage management software, in the midst of a company-wide evolution toward becoming a utility computing provider, is taking aim at protecting data that resides on the thousands PCs in small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and large enterprises.

While several corporate backup and recovery solutions exist on the market, VERITAS is releasing its Desktop and Laptop Option as an add-on option to its flagship Backup Exec, geared toward small-to-medium size businesses running Windows, and NetBackup large enterprise products. The Desktop and Laptop Option also boasts a new feature in that it let users automatically synchronize data among multiple PCs with one click, offering features that rivals IBM, EMC
and Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) do not.

According to Glenn Groshans, director of product marketing at VERITAS, the add-on option only makes Backup Exec for Windows Servers and NetBackup, which Gartner said make up 48.3 percent of the Windows and UNIX backup and recovery market, that much more attractive at a time when corporations are increasingly concerned about unauthorized cracks into their employees’ PCs.

Groshans said this approach is different from usual backup techniques for PCs in that saving data is made possible with one mouse click, as opposed to setting up large folders for storing files, allowing continuous, disk-based protection of data for workers in the office or on the road. Users may also synchronize their files against multiple machines, including desktops and laptops operated by the same user. Changes may be made automatically without manual intervention.

“This is really paving the way as the leading technology for the space,” Groshans told internetnews.com, noting that the option is tightly integrated with Backup Exec and NetBackup. Groshans said users would normally connect to a standalone file recovery service, such as “Connected,” but that a Web-based service like that requires a separate island of storage.

The Desktop and Laptop Option provides data protection no matter the location and allows a remote laptop to automatically detect the presence of a network connection and transfer user data that may have been created or changed while the user was offline.

Altiris is another firm specializing in solutions for corporate computing, offering a Web-based software that help organizations manage desktops, notebooks, handhelds, and Windows, Linux and UNIX servers throughout the IT lifecycle. But Groshans was quick to point out they don’t offer storage, let alone one-click backup and recovery.

Meanwhile, Veritas is expected to soon blend its utility computing software with backup and recovery products, to deliver protection as an on-demand services.

The Desktop and Laptop Option will ship before the end of this year with pending versions of Backup Exec. Pricing for the NetBackup Desktop and Laptop Option starts at $2,500. Backup Exec for Windows Servers Desktop and Laptop Option pricing starts at $495.