VERITAS Middle East unveils advances in integrated disaster recovery

Deployed together, the Cluster Server and Volume Replicator applications represent a complete solution for high availability and disaster recovery, providing protection against system downtime and the loss of information.

"Recent research commissioned by VERITAS showed that 82 per cent of companies in the region suffer unplanned downtime, but only just over a quarter - 26 per cent - have instituted disaster recovery processes in line with regulatory guidelines. VERITAS' new disaster recovery solutions provide an ideal roadmap for addressing this core business issue," said Sam Tayan, regional manager, VERITAS Middle East.

"As Middle East businesses expand their networks and launch new services, it becomes even more important to create a stable environment for protection against data loss and downtime. These new applications add to and are fully compatible with the existing range of VERITAS disaster recovery solutions currently being deployed by hundreds of enterprises around the region," said Tayan.

Disaster recovery is a major theme being explored at the upcoming VERITAS VISION Forum, the premier regional conference for storage management professionals, scheduled for May 17 in Dubai. Solutions experts will be on hand to discuss how regional organizations can leverage both VERITAS Cluster Server 4.0 and VERITAS Volume Replicator 4.0 as part of their disaster recovery strategies.

VERITAS Cluster Server is an open systems clustering application designed to limit both planned and unplanned application and database downtime. The high availability disaster recovery program integrates fully with VERITAS Volume Replicator, which is a core application for data availability at remote sites. When data loss and significant periods of downtime cannot be risked, Volume Replicator consistently, efficiently and reliably replicates information at remote locations over any IP network.

The applications conform to the VERITAS strategy of providing utility computing that operates as part of customers' existing systems. This means that data and solutions are always available, as the end user is protected from complications of all kinds, from a straightforward system failure to a total site outage.

Features of the new programs include Disaster Recovery Fire Drill, which enables the testing, planning and validation of disaster recovery schemes without system disruption; Cluster Simulator, which tests application failure scenarios to ensure that applications are migrated to the most appropriate server; and Global Cluster Option, which enables swift and simple upgrading to different architecture as availability requirements move from local to wide-area disaster recovery.

Volume Replicator Advisor monitors bandwidth requirements to make sure that replication is optimized, and an Immediate Access to Replicated Data facility instantly accesses data, while it is being replicated, using just a fraction of customers' available storage capacity.

"The latest versions of VERITAS Cluster Server and VERITAS Volume Replicator contain vital new features, but our research shows that businesses across the Middle East are in danger of missing out on such developments, as only 44 per cent of them review their disaster recovery plans more frequently than once a year. The region is at the forefront of technological development and take-up, but more attention needs to be directed at the range of innovative disaster recovery solutions available today to businesses," concluded Tayan.