XOsoft Enhances Backup App

XOsoft Inc. is bolstering its backup and disaster recovery software with automatic failover and application awareness features.

The company this week is releasing WANSync HA, which is a high-availability version of its business continuity software that provides IT administrators with automatic failover over a LAN or WAN. The upgrade maintains identical replicas of databases and application servers.

	XOsoft makes server failover automatic WANSync HA drill-down Maintains identical replicas of databases and application servers Automatically switches users to the replica in the event of a server failure Makes replica the primary server; the original server becomes the backup Offers specialized versions for Microsoft Exchange and the SQL Server and Oracle databases

The replicas run in sync with the primary server or database and can be brought online automatically should the main server fail.

The backup then becomes the primary server, and once the failed server is repaired, it is brought into sync and becomes the backup, according to XOsoft founder and CEO Leonid Shtilman.

For CEO Gerhard Fiedler, automatic failover was the principal reason that his company, PdMain Corp., decided to standardize on WANSync. PdMain, which is an IT integrator and outsourcer in Burlington, Ontario, has been working with XOsoft since the spring, said Fiedler.While the previous version of WANSync was good, some features needed to be added before PdMain could commit to the product, Fiedler said. Over the past few months, those features were added.

"Automatic switching was the most significant feature we needed added," Fiedler said. "That is now working quite flawlessly."

PdMain is responsible for IT services at 30 locations worldwide and needed automatic failover for its primary clients mission-critical data. Once that was in place, PdMain decided to upgrade to WANSync HA. The replication feature was also important, Fiedler said.

In addition, XOsoft, of Burlington, Mass., is making its software application-aware.

The WANSync HA Server component can be used for backup and restore with most application servers, while WANSync HA Exchange can be used with Microsoft Corp.s Exchange messaging application. WANSync HA SQL and WANSync HA Oracle work with Microsofts SQL Server and Oracle Corp.s namesake database management servers, respectively.

WANSync HA is designed to run on the Windows, Linux and Solaris operating systems. A version for AIX will be available toward the end of the first quarter, Shtilman said.

The new version of WANSync will open doors to new buyers for XOsoft, Shtilman said. "We are looking at the customer who previously decided not to go to such a product because of the high price of engineering ... and, second, people who wanted to be sure it was application-aware," he said.