14 DAY TRIAL // With the growing popularity and widespread usage on non-Windows operating systems, Microsoft saw the need to somehow extend the compatibility of its DPM 2010. Up until now, this data-protection manager only provided backup solutions for server environments operating on the Windows OS. The purpose of this pact between Microsoft and Seagate's i365 Inc. is to use the Evault software as a mediator between Microsoft's DPM and servers using Linux, Unix, NetWare, IBM's iSeries, Oracle and VMWare. This will enable the protection and backup of data operating on any of these platforms without the need for major changes to the DPM 2010. Mac systems are the only ones that will remain unsupported.
"By working with i365, our customers will be able to extend the protection offered by System Center Data Protection Manager to both Windows infrastructure and applications, but also other platforms within the same environment," Vij Rajarajan, general manager, Management and Services Division at Microsoft, shared. "As a result, customers will be able to streamline the way they protect heterogeneous data, achieving more with fewer resources."
The quote concerns primarily the growing number of corporations, which use the DPM as their primary backup systems but also employ systems that operate on non-Windows OS. This new development will allow those businesses to virtually cut in half backup and maintenance costs.
The plans of the Washington-based enterprise imply more than just wider support. Further plans include the use of i365's EVault data centers for offsite data protection by storing backups in the cloud. Customers will have access to a network of SAS 70 Type II certified, Tier 3 and 4 hosting facilities, WAN optimized backup and recovery, as well as disaster recovery experts and processes holding a 12-year track record for protecting data for over 22,000 customers worldwide. Cloud systems will bring the business data offsite, meaning outside the mainframes, ensuring its recovery in case a facility is damaged.
"Our EVault technology is making cloud-based data protection an important part of disaster recovery initiatives for more customers every day, optimizing the efficiency, security, and flexibility of data transfer over the Internet. Through unique edge appliances, compression, and block level deduplication technology, we deliver the disaster recovery benefits of an offsite backup, without the costs of tapes or transfers of physical media," George Hoenig, vice president, product operations, at i365, said. "We are delighted to be able to offer these capabilities to the Microsoft customer base as a part of i365’s cloud connected strategy."
With this agreement, Microsoft's DPM 2010 will become an attractive option to any business, from the small to the large ones. With the promise to support all the aforementioned OSs, this DPM-Evault combination is sure to attract worldwide attention in the field of data backup and recovery. The first shipments of the unified applications will be delivered alongside the DPM 2010 itself, in Q1-2 of the next year .