September 15, 1997

Faster Windows NT Backup Seagate product adds features and better NT migration By Caryn Gillooly eagate Software Inc. will release a new version of its Windows NT backup product this week that is faster, easier to use, and has a modular design. Key to the new version, analysts say, is tighter integration with the Microsoft operating system. Enhancements to Seagate Backup Exec for Windows NT version 7.0 include Intelligent Disaster Recovery, a feature that lets customers restore data without having to reinstall the operating system, keeping downtime to a minimum. Another new feature, Advanced Device and Media Management, offers device pooling, which enables the s ystem to perform load balancing and drive cascading. When the system is ready to do a backup and one of the tape drives, for example, is already being used, the system will automatically choose another from the pool instead waiting for that particular drive to be available. While these features are important to Backup Exec users, analysts say, competing products already offer these types of capabilities. The feature that analysts say may give this new version an edge over competing products is its tie into Microsoft's Component Object Model. COM, a modular architecture, lets third-party products snap into NT and interoperate with other COM-based products. Applications supporting COM act as components of NT that can also interact with one another as if each was part of a larger system. Before version 7.0, users could either buy all the features of Backup Exec or none, says Pat Hanavan, director of research and development at Seagate, in Heathrow, Fla. With this modularity, Hanavan says, Backup Exec wi ll support more users more reliably. Seagate Backup Exec for Windows NT 7.0 is available now, ranging in price from $695 for the Single Server Edition to $1,395 for the Enterprise Edition. Back to News in Review Send Us Your Feedback Top of the Page

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