Amid major industry moves in the enterprise storage space, Hewlett-Packard South Africa is bolstering its already strong management portfolio with the release of its latest solution for Windows NT and HP-UX environments.
Flying under the banner of HP OpenView Omniback 3.5, the software aims to provide an integrated backup and recovery solution which ensures high levels of data availability, manageability and performance. This, says local software business manager, Gary de Menezes, is key when protecting mission critical data in traditional and e-services business environments.
"As e-services continue to redefine the world of business by bringing most tasks and transactions online, access to information resources has become the ultimate competitive issue," he says.
"Protecting, managing and keeping this information accessible is therefore critical for service providers; it is at this market [among others] that OmniBack II is targeted."
Foremost among Omniback`s new capabilities is its flexible backup options. These include fully automated zero-impact backup/recovery for maximum data availability and protection; backup/recovery without penalty for production performance; and remote backup/recovery with high levels of disaster tolerance.
Interoperability with various forms of hardware and software is also an important factor considering the vast installed base of heterogeneous systems, says de Menezes.
"Naturally, Omniback integrates with HP`s local and remote mirroring software [SureStore E Business Copy XP and Continuous Access XP] for zero-downtime backup on our high end XP disk arrays.
"It also integrates with EMC`s TimeFinder and SRDF mirroring software for backup on Symmetrix systems. And it supports HP-UX and Microsoft Windows NT, SAP R/3, Oracle databases and Microsoft Exchange."
Integration is also high on the list of Omniback`s priorities in the greater scheme of enterprise management. De Menezes believes one of HP`s software strengths has always been a close tie between all the components of the OpenView suite; Omniback II 3.5 is no different, he says.
"We launched our VantagePoint enterprise operations and process management solution earlier this year, and Omniback is able to feed reports directly into that set. It also integrates with OpenView Express - our end-to-end management solutions that focuses on the NT space."
While storage management in the HP-UX and Windows NT markets is clearly a focus for HP, support for the Sun Solaris operating system is also critical considering that OS` installed web server base. A release of Omniback II which includes full support for homogeneous Sun Solaris environments is scheduled for the end of this year. This, confirms de Menezes, will include zero-impact backup solutions.
HP Omniback II 3.5 is shipping locally as of next month and will be channeled through HP`s broad base of VARs and business partners in the southern African market. More information can be found at http://www.openview.hp.com/products/
Fact File
Omniback II 3.5`s features for Windows NT and Windows 2000 customers include the following:
full support for Microsoft Windows 2000, including full protection of Active Directory, Distributed File System, Microsoft NT File System`s (NTFS) new structure, and integration into Windows 2000 management console;
support for HP One-Button Disaster Recovery (OBDR) for fast, easy and reliable recovery of Windows NT and Windows 2000 systems; and
full support of the BROCADE SilkWorm switch and Linear Tape Open (LTO) Ultrium devices.
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