Launched alongside new versions of its core back up and recovery software NetBackup and its cousin the in the SME space, Backup Exec, the most significant addition to the software line-up is a new management console.
According to Veritas, the addition of the console, CommandCentral, represents a significant step as it attempts to move forward with its utility computing strategy.
Veritas' core product line-up, which began as a set of recovery and back up tools, has gradually evolved into a sophisticated set of enterprise-level, hardware agnostic storage and server management applications.
The company now wants to take the concept further, integrating its applications under a single management portal, giving network administrators a single view of storage resources enterprise-wide.
The storage management tool treads on territory already walked by other system software vendors such as Hewlett-Packard's OpenView console.
However, Mark Bregman, executive vice president, Veritas product operations, argues that while those products help companies with -the plumbing" behind their resources, CommandCentral was designed to help business decision makers understand their IT storage cost centres.
-HP OpenView and others, they really provide a way managing the infrastructure; and generating alerts; and tracking end to end performance of your infrastructure... they don't aggregate information in a business orientated view," said Bregman.
As a precursor to its utility computing model Veritas has designed CommandConsole chiefly to provide companies with a means to monitor service and support levels throughout their divisions.
According to Bregman, the concept for the console came from reporting tool created by one of its employees while working in-house for a major financial organisation. Veritas then redeveloped the application into a complete tool in cooperation with a number of its major clients.
Beta testers of the new software present at the launch (including an academic organisation and a division of a major US-based airline) said they were pleased with the software's performance.
Keeping in line with the software set's tilt to board level interests, Veritas also launched an add-on for its software aimed at helping corporations meet regulatory requirements for data archiving. Dubbed, Data Lifecycle manager, the software allows corporations to set policies for storing data in -virtual archives" that later assist in the retrieval of company documents.
