IBM plans to announce new data-backup software on Friday, becoming the latest and largest entrant into the market for continuous data protection.
IBM Tivoli Continuous Data Protection for Files, which is slated for release on Sept. 16, is designed to let workers automatically and continuously back up data to their computers or laptops, as well as send a copy to a remote company server.
"There are products out there that take snapshots of your data every hour or half an hour, but...you have to figure out what was saved and what was not," said Michael Nelson, IBM's On-Demand director of information.
Snapshots also require more storage space than a continuous data protection approach, said Steve Duplessie, a senior analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group.
Continuous data protection backs up only the last changes made to a file, whereas snapshots record the entire file and, as a result, require more storage space, Duplessie added.
IBM is entering a fairly new market, pioneered a year ago by Revivio, Duplessie said. Other players include XOSoft and Mendocino, which was founded by a former executive at Veritas.
Veritas, a storage giant now owned by security titan Symantec, currently has a beta out for a product called Panther. Symantec plans to market the final product in the next couple of months, said a company spokeswoman.
Though other large industry players are poised to enter the market in the near future, IBM believes it has an advantage, Nelson said.
"One advantage is it's integrated with other Tivoli products," Nelson said, adding, "This is part of our On-Demand strategy, which...brings better reliability, cost savings and data management" to customers.
Big Blue plans to sell its IBM Tivoli Continuous Data Protection for Files at $35 per laptop or desktop and $995 per server processor.
albeit only for Windows. The big problem with CDP as a retail product is that it really offers very little to the average retail (e.g. home/soho) customer. What is really necessary is a service that uses tools like CDPfF to offer continuous data protection to somewhere OUTSIDE your home or small office. Charge me $50 a month or so for several GB (50-100 at least, to become competetive with upcoming BluRay capacities) and it's a steal. You'll make me happy to invest in both my broadband connection and your service (we have been extremely thankful for .Mac backup when my wife's graduate work was safely recovered from the night before when her iBook HD died).
Apple says it's got a third-party group looking for issues at manufacturing partners it uses. Read CNET's FAQ to find out how we got here and what the next steps are.
NY professor believes that a word-based algorithm can help bring together those who believe, with one glimpse, that they have found and lost the love of their lives.
After a higher-than-expected fourth quarter, the video subscription service unburdens itself of a pending yearlong class action suit and settles for $9 million.
Along with green-lighting Google's buy of Motorola, the Justice Department today OKs an Apple-Microsoft-RIM partnership deal to buy Nortel patents, and Apple's plan to acquire Novell patents.
Chamtech's spray-on antenna uses a nano material to provide a low-power boost to antenna range. The wireless-in-a-can product may some day bring an end to unsightly cell towers.
This week, we pass around Sony's new PlayStation Vita for some hands-on testing, check out HP's newest Beats Audio laptop, and debate the best and worst Valentine's Day gadget gifts.
EnerG2 opens a plant to make an engineered carbon that will improve performance of energy storage devices and make storage for start-stop hybrid cars less expensive.
product is that it really offers very little to the average retail (e.g.
home/soho) customer. What is really necessary is a service that
uses tools like CDPfF to offer continuous data protection to
somewhere OUTSIDE your home or small office. Charge me $50
a month or so for several GB (50-100 at least, to become
competetive with upcoming BluRay capacities) and it's a steal.
You'll make me happy to invest in both my broadband
connection and your service (we have been extremely thankful
for .Mac backup when my wife's graduate work was safely
recovered from the night before when her iBook HD died).