Veritas Software Corp. plans to announce this week Linux versions of its clustering and NAS software. At the same time, the company will submit Linux kernel changes to partner Red Hat Inc.
According to sources close to the Mountain View, Calif., company, Veritas will unveil ServPoint NAS for Linux and Cluster Server for Linux at a presentation Monday in New York. Also participating in the event will be partners Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM, which resell Veritas portfolio and will do the same with the new products. Intel Corp. will also be showing support for the new products.
Officials at Veritas and its partners would not comment on unannounced products.
However, the move is only the latest by the company. Veritas has ported several products from Unix/Linux to Windows—and vice versa—this year. Filling out the companys portfolio will continue to be a focus going forward, Chairman, CEO and President Gary Bloom has said.
Kathy Trahey, director of information services at Advanced Network & Services Inc., a nonprofit technology education organization in Armonk, N.Y., said her company has been waiting for the NAS (network-attached storage) port.
“Who runs one platform?” Trahey asked. “Why should I get different backup methods for each different client?”
The availability of numerous platforms was also significant for York University, in Toronto.
“Were a Veritas customer … for their NetBackup product” on Linux and Windows, with Novell [Inc.] networking, said Marshal Linfoot, manager of Unix technical support in the universitys Computing and Network Services department. “That was definitely one of the selection criteria.”
The moves also illustrate Veritas interest in IT convergence, said Mark Karp, an analyst with Enterprise Management Associates Inc., in Westboro, Mass. “They seem to be really focusing on the connection of networking to storage,” Karp said. He speculated that in the future, Veritas would mostly likely pursue network-focused products via acquisitions rather than in-house development.
With the NAS product, Veritas will compete against companies such as Quantum Corp., which also uses a Linux base, Dell Computer Corp. and others that use Microsoft Corp.s Server Appliance Kit 2.0, itself due for a 3.0 upgrade this fall. The ServPoint-based products are below the level of products from the likes of EMC Corp. and Network Appliance Inc.
Cluster Server is a more generic product, used for up to 32 nodes, currently in the Windows, Solaris, HP-UX and AIX environments. Sources did not say what new applications would be supported with the Linux version.
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