Symantec marries disk and tape backup

Symantec has integrated its remote office disk-to-disk PureDisk backup product better with Exchange and SQL Server, and announced plans to integrate it with its NetBackup tape based product, giving customers the best of both worlds.

Symantec launched PureDisk in April, 2006 without any integration with the NetBackup product. It copied de-duplicated files from remote offices to a central disk-based backup facility. From there reconstituted files, ones with de-duplication reversed, could be backed up to tape using NetBackup or other backup software.

This latest release of NetBackup PureDisk provides Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server agents that deliver PureDisk storage and bandwidth efficiencies for two applications that are common at remote sites. Additionally, PureDisk delivers its first integration point with NetBackup. Users can now export PureDisk backup data to tape as well as have direct recovery from tape using NetBackup. This simplifies disaster recovery and makes the long-term management of backup data slightly easier.

The latest release is immediately available through Symantec’s certified value-added resellers and direct sales force.

Symantec is going to go further and make PureDisk technology a core element of its overall enterprise data protection strategy. In the next release of NetBackup, it intends to deliver full two-way data integration between PureDisk and NetBackup. PureDisk will be able to leverage NetBackup’s capabilities for writing data to tape, and allow NetBackup to backup its existing clients directly to PureDisk, treating PureDisk as a space-optimized, disk storage unit under NetBackup.

HDS and CommVault partner for remote office backup

Coincidentally remote office data protection is also the point of an extended OEM contract between CommVault and Hitachi Data Systems (HDS). Using CommVault replication technology Hitachi Continuous Data Replicator copies file changes of all remote office data to a central location where customers may then use Hitachi Backup and Recovery software, also based on CommVault software, to back up the replicated data rather than the data on the source server. It provides near-continuous data protection to branch offices.