Veritas unveils its vision for next-generation data protection

VERITAS Software Corporation has announced the VERITAS VERTEX Initiative, a set of data protection solutions that utilises breakthrough snapshot backup technology to virtually eliminate backup windows and minimise the time required for data recovery.

The VERITAS VERTEX Initiative comprises a series of VERITAS NetBackup data protection products and offers the flexibility to support existing hardware and software backup implementations in heterogeneous environments. The new initiative also incorporates innovative technologies from the company`s core volume management and file system products, VERITAS Volume Manager and VERITAS File System.

This next-generation approach to data protection will allow organisations to protect critical business information with no loss of performance or availability, even as enterprise data grows at an unprecedented rate.

The phase one release of the VERITAS VERTEX Initiative includes proven VERITAS Software snapshot backup solutions (VERITAS NetBackup FlashBackup and NetBackup for Oracle - Advanced BLI Agent). It also introduces the new VERITAS NetBackup ServerFree Agent for use with VERITAS NetBackup 4.0V, designed to take advantage of storage area network (SAN) architectures, with no downtime and no impact on production servers. The first phase also includes support for hardware-based snapshot solutions, such as HP Surestore E Business Copy XP.

The second phase of the VERITAS VERTEX Initiative, which will roll out over the course of 2001, extends VERITAS Software technologies to support additional operating systems, SAN hardware, and storage devices. The support of non-VERITAS Software snapshot solutions will provide dynamically growing enterprise environments with a flexible data protection solution that protects their current storage investments and is capable of keeping up with today`s high availability demands.

"With the dramatic growth of stored data driven by the Internet, pervasive computing, and e-mail, organisations are quickly outgrowing traditional backup and recovery methods," says John Webster, analyst, Illuminata.

"Snapshot or `frozen image` backup technology, the process of making a `point-in-time` data copy for backup and restoration, serves as the fundamental technology throughout the VERITAS VERTEX Initiative, because it addresses the performance and availability issues coming to the forefront in the information explosion," says Nick van Noordwyk, regional director, Middle East and Africa at VERITAS Software. "Whether implemented in hardware, software, or in a SAN, snapshot backup technology reduces the backup impact on the production server, while reducing the time it takes to back up data for a wide variety of global enterprise environments."

VERITAS NetBackup ServerFree Agent, for use with VERITAS NetBackup 4.0V, is a key new technology introduced with the VERITAS VERTEX Initiative. It combines snapshot backup technology with server-free data movement technology to bring high-performance data protection to SAN environments.

With VERITAS NetBackup ServerFree Agent, a data snapshot is created in seconds and then backed up directly from disk to tape, reducing CPU and I/O overhead while eliminating the backup window altogether. Several manufacturers of SAN infrastructure equipment are announcing their support for VERITAS NetBackup ServerFree Agent.

Phase two of the VERITAS VERTEX Initiative will roll out in 2001, as VERITAS Software adds support for other hardware and software snapshot backup solutions from its major partners.