VERITAS Software ships first Data Protection Solution to support Microsoft Windows 2000

VERITAS Software has released version 8.0 of Backup Exec for Windows NT/2000, as well as its new option, VERITAS Backup Exec Network Storage Executive (NSE), both of which became available in January.

VERITAS Software is the first third-party backup and restore software application shipping for Microsoft Windows NT/2000 and has been selected worlwide by Microsoft for its own data protection.

Deborah Willingham, vice president, Windows Marketing, Microsoft Corporation, says: "VERITAS Software`s data protection solutions have been a critical component in the Rapid Deployment Program."

"The release of Backup Exec for Windows NT/2000 is going to give our customers the solution they need to handle their expanding storage needs in their Windows environments," says Nick van Noordwyk, regional manager, Middle East and Africa at VERITAS Software. "Our channel partners can also expect to benefit with the ability to supply the solutions our market is looking for."

VERITAS Backup Exec 8.0 for Windows NT and Windows 2000 offers protection of the Windows 2000 System State, including Active Directory, COM+ Class Registration Database, Registry, System Volume and System Files. The new Windows 2000 file system changes - including disk quotas, encrypted files, Distributed File System and reparse points utilised by Volume Mount Points, Directory Junctions and Remote Storage Services - are also protected with this solution. Leveraging Microsoft`s clustering APIs, VERITAS Backup Exec provides automatic, active-passive fail over in high-availability cluster environments and job re-try capabilities, increasing system fault tolerance.

Additionally, the product incorporates updated disaster recovery with the enhanced Intelligent Disaster Recovery Option. Other enhancements to VERITAS Backup Exec for Windows NT and Windows 2000 include updates to the Agent for Microsoft SQL Server, which simplify restoring a database to a specific date/time rather than the last backup, and administrative improvements that allow alert notifications to be delivered using Lotus Notes/Domino or SMTP.

VERITAS Backup Exec NSE unifies multiple independent VERITAS Backup Exec for Windows NT/2000 servers to provide one central point of administration and control by leveraging the strengths of Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 and the Microsoft Management Console. Integration with Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 provides VERITAS Backup Exec NSE with a robust database platform that stores all job, device, media and configuration information in an easily accessible format, while VERITAS Backup Exec NSE`s user interface and easy-to-use wizards walk new users through the most common tasks. For corporations with rapidly growing networks, VERITAS Backup Exec NSE`s backup policies provide a scalable way to efficiently manage data protection while backup server pooling improves overall performance and fault tolerance by intelligently load balancing backup jobs across all available VERITAS Backup Exec servers.

Microsoft recently chose VERITAS Software solutions to exclusively protect its Information Technology Group`s (ITG) data centres world-wide. ITG is deploying VERITAS Backup Exec for Windows NT and Windows 2000 and VERITAS Backup Exec NSE, providing automated backup operations with system-wide, policy-based and centralised management, scheduling, alerting and reporting. ITG will also be deploying VERITAS Backup Exec for Windows NT/2000 options for Autoloader, Intelligent Disaster Recovery, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Open File Option, SAP/R3, Library Expansion Option and Shared Storage Option.