Microsoft Corp. early next year will add storage capabilities to .Net Server 2003, but vendors are already beginning to line up to exploit the new services.
The Redmond, Wash., company last week unveiled VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service) for volume snapshotting and VDS (Virtual Disk Services) for disk/array management. The pair should help storage hardware and software makers and business applications vendors speed product development by allowing integration with Microsoft products without custom code.
End-user file restoration capabilities, code-named TimeWarp, are included under a Shadow Copy administration tab as well as in a Previous Versions tab in the Windows XP interface, company officials said at the Microsoft Exchange Conference, in Anaheim, Calif.
Computer Associates International Inc., of Islandia, N.Y., in three weeks will release a version of its backup technology, ArcServ 9.0, that is VSS- and VDS-compliant. Similarly, Storage Technology Corp., of Louisville, Colo., will adapt its D-178 array to the Microsoft services, officials said. Brocade Communications Systems Inc., of San Jose, Calif., will explore ways to integrate its fabric zoning with the services, a spokesman said.
In addition, EMC Corp., of Hopkinton, Mass., will integrate the services with its WideSky middleware, said Don Swatik, vice president of alliances at EMC.
Still, some companies worry that Microsofts new services are too generic for some uses. “Where youre doing something a little bit special beyond application backup and retrieval … those instances Im not sure the driver would solve adequately,” said Whitney Tidmarsh, a spokeswoman for Documentum Inc., in Pleasanton, Calif.
Examples are when Documentum integrates its software with Windows-connected hierarchical storage management or to disk archiving products such as EMCs Centera, Tidmarsh said.