Veritas Software has released the latest version of its
disaster recovery software, Global Cluster Manager
3.5.1.
The web-based software allows administrators to centralise
control of their data recovery environment for application
availability and data replication.
New additions to the software include the management of
clustered Linux servers, support for IBM’s AIX operating system and
Hitachi Data Systems’ data replication suite, and increased
disaster recovery for Microsoft’s Exchange 2000 servers, the
company said.
This version extends the capabilities of Veritas’ Cluster Server
and its Global Cluster Manager to manage its platform-independent
software environments. The software also automates site-to-site
disaster recovery and is now able to manage clustered Exchange
servers from a single point while facilitating wide area
application recovery for corporate e-mails and Exchange servers
from a potential site failure, the company said.
According to the most recent figures available from IDC, Veritas
was the leading supplier in the clustered disaster recovery space
in 2001 with over 18% of the North American market share, followed
closely by Microsoft.
From 2001 to 2002, companies worldwide spent $850m (£506m) and
the global market grew by 7%, said Dan Kusnetzky, vice-president,
system software research for IDC.
Not surprisingly, he said that post 11 September, disaster
recovery software has grown in importance to organisations, and
that the idea of clustering serves a very specific purpose in the
recovery process.
"[Clustering] is a major architectural foundation for disaster
recovery and prevention. If every major function that makes up an
application system is replicated in one or more places and software
connects those replicas, scalability can be increased," Kusnetzky
said.
Veritas will compete against rival suppliers Legato Systems,
Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems and IBM.
Kusnetzky noted that one advantage to using Veritas’ software is
that it is platform and supplier independent, a claim not all
suppliers in the space can make.
"Making a Veritas choice for its clustering and availability
software does not also imply making a Veritas choice for the
operating system, database, development tools, or the middleware,"
he said.
Albert Leonardo writes for ITWorldCanada.com