As companies continue to vie for ownership of the biggest data, the demand for bigger data centers is keeping pace. CIOs at the same time are looking at the consumption of data center power and worried about the end result. As many move toward virtualization and cloud-based solutions, backup continues to be a primary focus.
A recent Redmond Magazine story highlighted the history of Microsoft’s (News - Alert) entry into the market and the ebb and flow of its positioning as a robust provider. As the software giant entered this space in 2005, its System Center Data Protection Manager supported only Windows environments and wasn’t really designed to beat the odds in more complex environments.
The latest release, however, has a few more key players turning their heads. This latest offering not only supports the Windows environment, but it will also back up and recover Linux virtual machines, support SQL Server clusters, enable deployment in virtual environments and provide Windows Azure backup.
Even with this step up to the formidable competition, most in the industry still don’t see Microsoft as a viable competitive threat.
In some cases, technology specialists are seeing the Microsoft option as something that can shore up their own offerings. When added as a backup option, it can fill in the holes and allow for high-speed recovery and better overall backup. When customers need to get back online quickly and recover their data, DPM provides an effective and inexpensive solution for disaster recovery.
The key for companies relying on DPM as a complimentary solution to their own offering is its ability to secure backup of information while they pay attention to the network, applications and other processes. Alone, they still view DPM as a weak option in a disaster-recovery situation. When paired with more robust offerings, however, it proves to be a viable solution.
One competitor sees very little value in the solution, however. Serguei Beloussov, co-founder and CEO of Acronis, noted that most companies seek to protect themselves and their data from errors and failures created by Microsoft. If Microsoft is also applying the fix, it doesn’t make much sense that the solution will be sound or permanent.
Regardless, the point is to recognize those areas of vulnerability where data center power and other resources are concerned so as to protect the organization and its resources in the event of an outage. Server Technology (News - Alert) does just that, working directly with customers to ensure that the solution selected truly fits the need.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson