MICROSOFT TAKES ON BACKUP MARKET

摘要

It's a market that could use a shake-Up. Backup and recovery still can be too expensive and complex for many small and midsize companies that rely on Windows, but the software is vital to their businesses. Enter Microsoft, with a lower-cost, automated system that it says will change all that. The company last week revealed plans for the Microsoft Data Protection Server, its first backup and data-recovery software. It's based on a disk-to-disk mechanism that recovers data online as if it's coming from a LAN-based server instead of more cumbersome tape drives. Disk-to-disk backup and recovery will cut hours or even days out of a recovery process, without requiring IT intervention, Microsoft officials say. Data Protection Server, when used in conjunction with Active Directory, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Storage Server 2003, will make backup and recovery a continuous-not once-nightly-process. And the software won't impede desktop functions while it's operating, Microsoft says.