Syncsort Strengthens Data Protection for Today's Virtualized and Cloud Infrastructures

LAS VEGAS, Aug. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- VMworld 2011 -- Syncsort, a global leader in data integration acceleration and data protection software solutions, today announced Syncsort Data Protection 4.0, a key component of the NetApp® Syncsort Integrated Backup (NSB) solution. As organizations increasingly turn to virtualization and cloud computing to gain greater efficiency, flexibility and cost savings, they face new challenges in consistently completing backups of growing data volumes within compressed timeframes.  Enhancements to NSB simplify the architecture, remove overhead and accelerate backup and recovery operations to meet new requirements of organizations as they move to cloud and virtualized environments.

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NSB is a fast, efficient and easy-to-use data protection solution for physical and virtual servers running in multi-vendor storage environments. With the new enhancements to Syncsort's data protection software, NSB further expands its value proposition to provide cloud-based data protection, enabling customers to meet shorter backup windows and recovery point objectives at a significantly lower total cost of ownership. Based on proven hardware and software technology from Syncsort and NetApp, the NSB solution has gained strong customer and channel partner adoption since it was formally introduced to the market a year ago at VMworld 2010.

Enhanced Protection and Recovery for Cloud Investments

• Efforts to consolidate and virtualize IT infrastructures can increase the amount of data requiring protection and put a strain on traditional backup methods. This can result in extended backup windows, failure to complete backups and higher risk to the business.
• Syncsort Data Protection 4.0, which will be generally available within 90 days as part of the NSB solution, helps establish a new standard in meeting today's strict requirements for reliable, fast and cost-effective data protection.
• The new technology enhancements and innovations that Syncsort Data Protection 4.0 bring to NSB makes it an optimal data protection and recovery solution for both private cloud investments and service provider deployments of cloud services. By storing all backups in native format and through its robust integration with VMware, NSB is able to recover entire applications in virtual and cloud environments in less than 10 minutes.
• Fast recovery is particularly critical in remote site scenarios. With its Instant Virtualization technology, NSB is able to bring any remote site backup image online as a VM within minutes. Critical services are restored to end users while data recovery occurs in the background.
• NSB offers flexibility and easily scales to match the needs of rapidly growing virtual and cloud infrastructures. Customers get the protection and recovery they need for their IT investments while also helping to keep costs under control.
• Data protection with NSB extends to disaster recovery, leveraging the value of a single management console, and utilizing the speed and efficiency of replicated snapshots.

News Fact Details

• Syncsort's data protection software supports 'near zero' impact, non-disruptive backup and recovery of VMware virtual machines by eliminating the need to install backup clients in the guest operating system, and uses VMware vStorage APIs for Data Protection (VADP) to track changed blocks for greater efficiency and reduced costs.
• The combination of VMware Agentless Backup support and patented Instant Virtualization™ and Instant Access capabilities in Syncsort's data protection software delivers the unique, unmatched restore functionality in NSB. Specific restore types in the solution include:
  • Rapid Virtual Machine Restore – by leveraging NetApp Snapshot™ copy technology, a VM can be restored in minutes. Optionally, a new VM data file can be created in the background while the VM is running, allowing for a full restore without additional downtime.
  • Restoring VMDK Files – similar to restoring a virtual machine, this method uses NetApp Snapshot copies to restore one or more selected VMDK files in only minutes, providing rapid disk-level restore of data.
  • Rapid File Browsing – restore method uses the solution's Instant Access capability to map a single VMDK to any other node with a Syncsort agent for easy browsing of the guest file system.    
• Virtual-to-physical (V2P) data restore uses NetApp Snapshot copies to connect physical systems to VMDK images, allowing users to share data anywhere within their organization without regard to virtual and physical boundaries.  
• The new version of Syncsort's data protection software can be installed in a virtual machine (VM) to run 'application-aware' backup and granular recovery for VMs running Microsoft SharePoint, Exchange and SQL Server, in addition to the advantages of VMware Agentless Backup.
• A new, highly intuitive graphical user interface builds upon an existing strength to further extend  ease-of-use advantage over competing products.
• Support is also included for VMware vSphere® 5, allowing NSB users to leverage the latest release of VMware's comprehensive suite of cloud infrastructure technologies.

Supporting Quotes

• "ESG's recent research on VMware backup and recovery approaches found that the expansion of server virtualization deployments over the next two years is expected to flourish, making backup and recovery of virtual machines a critical priority," said Lauren Whitehouse, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "Solutions like NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup than span both the physical and virtual worlds, and offer robust disaster recovery capabilities, provide tremendous potential for helping customers eliminate cost and complexity from their environments."
• "Virtualization and cloud are fundamentally changing the requirements and optimal approaches for data protection," said Chris Cummings, vice president, Product and Solutions Marketing, NetApp. "NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup offers a strategic approach to deliver accelerated backup and recovery while maximizing storage utilization to control costs, providing enterprises with the simplicity, flexibility, and efficiency required for today's shared IT infrastructures."
• "As traditional file-based approaches have increasingly failed in the new world of virtualized and shared IT infrastructures, enterprises of all sizes have been forced to rethink their data protection strategies and seek new approaches for meeting evolving backup and recovery requirements while also eliminating unnecessary cost and complexity from the equation," said Jeff Hornung, vice president, Product Management and Business Development, Syncsort. "NSB excels in filling a gap in the market for a single platform that seamlessly consolidates both the physical and virtual data protection realms while also being storage environment agnostic."

Additional Resources

• Enterprise Strategy Group: NetApp Modernizes Backup
• Video: Next Generation Backup and Recovery for Virtual Environments
• Best Practices for Addressing the Broken State of Backup
• NSB Delivers 10-Minute Physical to Virtual Server Migration
• Syncsort Data Protection Customer Success
• Syncsort Data Protection Blog
• Follow Syncsort on Twitter
• Join the Syncsort Community on Facebook

About Syncsort

Syncsort is a global software company that helps the world's most successful organizations rethink the economics of data.  Syncsort provides record-setting data performance and rapid time to value through easy to use data integration and data protection solutions.  With over 15,000 deployments, Syncsort has transformed decision making and delivered more profitable results to thousands of customers worldwide.  For more information visit: www.syncsort.com.

NetApp, the NetApp logo, and Go further, faster, and Snapshot are trademarks or registered trademarks of NetApp, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. The use of the term "partner" or "partnership" does not imply a legal partnership between NetApp and any other company.

Contact:

Syncsort Incorporated
Kevin Ruane, Corporate Communications
T: +1 201 746 7061
E: [email protected]

SOURCE Syncsort