Symantec's SME backup software will be able to back up virtual machines from VMware and Microsoft.This week, Symantec announced Backup Exec 12.5 and Backup Exec System Recovery 8.5.

BE 12.5 will back up physical and virtual machines with one agent. The new release supports VMware ESX and Microsoft Hyper-V.

Administrators can use one BE 12.5 console to manage backups for physical and virtual servers, and back up to disk or tape. The software also provides granular restore features, so administrators can restore an entire image or individual folders and files.

The company also is working to integrate BE and BE Syste Recovery with Altiris, its management platform, to cut down on the number of agents that customers have to install and maintain. To that end, the company also announced Backup Exec Infrastructure Manager, which uses the Backup Exec agent to perform inventory management of software and licenses and deploy software patches.

BE System Recovery 8.5 adds support for ESX 3.5, Hyper-V and Citrix XenServer 4.1. Symantec also is integrating BE SR with Altiris, to let administrators perform bare-metal restores from the Altiris console.

BE 12.5 and BE SR 8.5 are expected to be available on Oct. 6.