CommVault Systems Inc., a specialist in backup software, is expanding its reach into storage management software with a new initiative called QiNetix.
Initially, QiNetix will be the product family name for CommVaults existing Galaxy backup product for Windows and Unix as well as for two separate components, Data Migrator and Quick Recovery, both for Windows only.
Early next year, the company will roll out Unix versions of Data Migrator and Quick Recovery as well as two more parts, one for SRM (storage resource management) and another for SAN (storage area network) management.
The console through which the new products will be administered will be called QNet, Bob Hammer, president, CEO and chairman of the Oceanport, N.J., company, said last week. The SRM and SAN parts together will be called Storage Manager, for both Windows and Unix, and all QiNetix products will be managed via a QNet portal.
What makes the QiNetix suite unique, compared with similar products from companies such as Veritas Software Corp., is that its components are not just a loose collection of products, Hammer said.
“They all look the same. They have these applications that sit underneath, and then they go through a translation layer, and they talk to each other through a portal,” he said. “We built the applications all in a single stack.”
In addition, the software can move a data snapshot between arrays, whether the snapshot was made by CommVault or by a different product, Hammer said.
Chad Schmidt, network systems engineer and lead administrator for enterprise backup for Fresno County, in California, runs 6 terabytes of EMC Corp. Symmetrix storage, connected to more than 200 AIX and Windows servers.
QiNetix will be worth trying because of CommVaults solid customer service, Schmidt said.
“Theyre a little bit smaller, so theyre a little bit more eager to support somebody,” he said.
Regarding QiNetix, “if it was neatly integrated, itd probably be something wed strongly consider,” he said.