Veritas updates data-backup, archiving products

Veritas, which makes software used to protect data from risks such as computer crashes or storage system catastrophes, introduced updates for two of its primary product lines Tuesday.

The software company unveiled the newest versions of its NetBackup and Enterprise Vault applications at its Veritas Vision conference for customers and developers, which is being held this week in San Francisco. NetBackup is Veritas' flagship data recovery and backup software package, while Enterprise Vault is its e-mail and content archiving offering.

With the release of NetBackup 6.0, Veritas says it has pulled together data backup, management and recovery tools, centralizing some of the controls for those programs in order to help customers cope with increasing volumes of information on computer storage systems. In addition, the software can be used to manage backup and recovery tasks on devices running heterogeneous Unix, Windows and Linux operating systems, the company said.

By allowing for the data on computers to be recovered using disparate machines, Veritas says it is granting far greater levels of flexibility to systems administrators than in its previous offerings. Many of the NetBackup upgrades, available sometime this summer, were produced through the company's two-year development pact with storage specialist Network Appliance.

With the introduction of Enterprise Vault 6.0, Veritas claims to have advanced the product from a mere archiving tool into a "comprehensive records retention" and e-mail management system. In addition to allowing customers to track and save e-mail, the software also promises to archive instant messages, as well as Microsoft SharePoint documents, and Microsoft Windows and Network Appliance file systems. In addition, the package adds support for IBM's Lotus Domino/Notes messaging software.

Much of the focus with the new Enterprise Vault software, which will reach the market in July, revolves around compliance with regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, which require companies in certain industries to retain and manage all electronic documents, including e-mail.

On Monday, Veritas Chief Executive Gary Bloom defended his company's planned $13.5 billion acquisition by security giant Symantec, arguing that the companies' products address two facets of the same data protection problem. Bloom said the fit is solid because customers use Veritas software to protect data from risks such as computer crashes or storage system catastrophes, while Symantec protects data from network threats such as viruses or hacker attacks.