Symantec announces continuous data protection products

Computerworld - In a continuing trend among major storage vendors, Symantec Corp. yesterday announced two continuous data protection (CDP) products that allow users to restore files and administrators to restore Windows Server 2003 operating systems locally and remotely.
The announcement came on the same day that Microsoft announced its own continuous data protection product (see "Microsoft goes live with continuous data protection product").
Symantec's Backup Exec 10d for Windows Servers will be available Oct. 10 and features a tool called Backup Exec Continuous Protection Server, which can take multiple snapshots of files throughout the day, allowing workers to restore their own files through a Web-based interface. The product also offers a disk-to-disk to tape backup when combined with third-party archive software.
In addition, Symantec announced LiveState Recovery 6.0, a software product that can restore Windows Server 2003 operating systems to physical or virtual servers such as those created by VMware or Microsoft's own Virtual Server 2005.
"The real issues are time of backup, reliability and time to restore. Both of these products deal with those issues," said Don Kleinschnitz, vice president of infrastructure management solutions at Symantec. Klenschnitz said operating system restores can be performed to any brand of server, relieving compatibility issues.
"You can take a Dell server and recover it to an IBM machine and it will automatically rebuild the system for a new machine," Kleinschnitz said. Restores can also be performed remotely from any number of devices -- including PCs, laptops and PDAs -- when a standby server is in place, he said.
"I think LiveState will see broader adoption, not because of the continuous nature of its offering, but more in terms of the fact that you've got one product to recover a file, a volume and if a virus wipes something out ... you can roll it back. It's like one-stop shopping against a lot of different problems," said Dave Russell, an analyst at Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Conn.
Backup Exec 10d, known internally as Panther, came from Symantec's acquisition of Veritas earlier this year. In June, Symantec issued a public beta of Panther, prompting some 15,000 downloads. The software comes with a Google-like feature allowing users to search for files based not only on name but content, Kleinschnitz said.
Bob Graham, senior vice president of information systems at Farmers and Merchants Bank Corp. in Timberville, Va., said he has been beta-testing Backup Exec 10d and plans on purchasing it next month to reduce the workload on his IT staff. Currently, Farmers and Merchants Bank backs up