Veritas Boosts Platform Support in OpForce 3.0

Veritas Software Corp. last week announced the release of OpForce 3.0, enhancing platform support and simplifying administration of the former Jareva Technologies Inc. server automation software, officials said.

Veritas Software Corp. last week announced the release of OpForce 3.0, enhancing platform support and simplifying administration of the former Jareva Technologies Inc. server automation software, officials said.

The new version is the first since Veritas acquired Jareva for $62 million in December, but full technical integration wont come until Version 4.0 in the second calendar quarter of next year, said Jagadish Bandhole, vice president of data center automation products and former Jareva CEO, in Sunnyvale, Calif.

OpForce can now run Microsoft Corp.s Windows 2003, several revisions of Linux and AIX, he said. There is also a JXML-based programming interface and integration with the popular Veritas Volume Manager and Veritas File System, he said.

Users can also manage blade servers with OpForce. Models from Dell Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Sun Microsystems Inc. are supported. Models from RLX Technologies Inc. will be added soon, Bandhole said.

Regardless of the operating systems or server form factor, users of 3.0 also have scripting and scheduling, policy-based administration, and management of Microsofts Active Directory and LDAP, Bandhole said. OpForce 3.0 will ship July 7 and costs $7,500 for Windows servers, $15,000 for Unix-based servers, $500 for Windows clients and $750 for Unix-based clients, Bandhole said.

"I think theres definitely a benefit in terms of ease of administration. Theres a level of stability or reliability that can be achieved," said Dan Sorenson, senior network analyst at Smead Manufacturing Co., which makes software and paper-based organization tools, in Hastings, Minn.