Veritas Software Corp.s unix-based product line has always been stronger than its Windows-based line of tools.
The storage software maker, in Mountain View, Calif., said that situation changed last week when it unveiled products and enhancements to other offerings designed to round out its Windows-based line.
The new products are FlashSnap, for creating point-in-time images, and Volume Replicator, for IP-based synchronous and asynchronous replication to remote data centers, said Matt Fairbanks, senior product line manager at Veritas. FlashSnap starts at $1,995, and Volume Replicator starts at $4,000, Fairbanks said.
Veritas has also adapted some existing products to Windows. Veritas Edition for Microsoft Exchange 1.0 is essentially Volume Manager optimized for Microsoft Corp.s Exchange, and Veritas Cluster Server for Windows 2000 now supports 32 nodes and the industry-standard N+1 architecture, Fairbanks said. Those products start at $1,495 and $4,995, respectively.
In addition, Veritas launched Volume Manager for Windows 3.0, an update to 2.7, which debuted in July. Enhancements include a new user interface, faster logging, performance tuning and better dynamic multipathing support for arrays and devices, Fairbanks said. Pricing starts at $995.
Veritas made the announcements at Microsofts TechEd developer conference in New Orleans.
For the past eight months, Chadd Warwick, manager of operations at Comprehensive Software Systems Inc., has been testing Volume Replicator attached to Dell Computer Corp. servers.
“It was the most cost-efficient solution to our business needs,” said Warwick, in Golden, Colo. “We looked at doing EMC [Corp.s Symmetrix Remote Data Facility]; we looked at a few other messengers that were more in the hardware.”
Warwick said that Comprehensive is pleased with Volume Replicators performance but that it is very complex, making the learning curve steep.
All the new and updated software is available now, Fairbanks said.
Veritas, with $977 million in 2001 storage software revenue and slightly less than 20 percent market share, is the storage industrys largest ISV, according to a report published last month by Gartner Inc., in San Jose, Calif. Veritas is especially strong in backup products but is weaker in storage resource management, Gartner found.