CA, Network Appliance to deliver integrated data protection, storage management, security management solutions

Computer Associates International, Inc and Network Appliance, Inc today announced plans to extend their existing relationship by helping customers address data protection requirements resulting from Internet security threats, storage and server consolidation, and other business-critical initiatives.

CA will enhance the compatibility and interoperability of its BrightStor and eTrust software with NetApp enterprise-class storage systems. Together, the CA and NetApp solutions will offer customers additional opportunities to increase operational efficiencies to better support business objectives, while lowering the total cost of ownership across their enterprise storage infrastructure.

The companies have already worked together to integrate CA`s BrightStor ARCserve Backup, BrightStor Storage Resource Manager and eTrust Antivirus software with Network Appliance technology.

"Customers require easy-to-manage storage that is scalable, highly reliable, safe and economical," said Patrick Rogers, vice-president of partners and alliances at Network Appliance. "Our integration with CA provides a cost-effective and secure way for IT and business professionals to protect their data without further complicating their IT infrastructure."

"Network Appliance offers customers economical, high-capacity and scalable enterprise storage solutions that provide a solid infrastructure for storing mission-critical business data," said Anders Lofgren, vice-president of BrightStor storage management at CA. "By integrating our intelligent storage and security management solutions with Network Appliance-based storage systems, CA will enable customers to maintain low storage-related ownership costs, while ensuring the availability and integrity of their data."

The companies plan to deliver solutions to address data protection, storage efficiency, integrated compliance/archiving and storage security.

Data protection - CA and NetApp plan to integrate best-in-class NetApp SnapVault data protection technology with BrightStor ARCserve Backup. This integration will enable BrightStor to seamlessly manage data protection for NetApp storage from within the BrightStor framework. The scalable SnapVault and BrightStor data protection solution will simplify backup operations in complex enterprise environments, and ensure rapid data recovery from unplanned events, providing enterprise-wide availability of critical information.

Storage efficiency - CA and NetApp plan to expand support for the NetApp Manage ONTAP environment through CA`s BrightStor Storage Resource Manager, which enables customers to apply intelligent storage management practices to more efficiently utilise available storage capacity and lower overall storage costs. Extended integration with the NetApp Manage ONTAP API will provide additional efficiencies and enhance the security of enterprise storage environments. The companies will also work together on enhanced design, capacity planning, monitoring and management capabilities for NetApp unified storage environments.

Integrated compliance/archiving - To help customers comply with regulations governing corporate records, CA and NetApp plan to build support for the NetApp SnapLock API into CA`s BrightStor ARCserve Backup. This support will enable BrightStor ARCserve Backup to archive data to read-only volumes in NetApp nearline storage systems. CA and NetApp are also pursuing enhanced support for the SnapLock API to give customers even greater efficiency in managing archives stored on NetApp nearline storage systems.

Storage security - CA and NetApp plan to explore additional opportunities for integrating eTrust Antivirus with NetApp storage systems. NetApp enterprise-class storage is already ca smart-certified with eTrust Antivirus r7.1, helping to ensure virus protection for business-critical data as well as safe and reliable shared file services. Pricing starts at $40 for each NetApp storage system, providing significantly increased value to customers who are consolidating storage on the NetApp platform.