Startup Gets 'PHD' In Virtualization

Company: PHD Virtual Technologies

Headquarters: Mt. Arlington, N.J.

Technology Sector: Virtualization

Key Product: PHD Virtual esXpress

Year Founded: 2005

Number of Channel Partners: 250 direct partners worldwide, 2,000-plus partners via distribution worldwide

Ideal Channel Partner: Enterprise-focused solution providers

Why You Should Care: Tools to simplify the protection of virtual machines and their data are hot as more and more server loads become virtualized.

The Lowdown: PHD Virtual develops software that allows customers to build virtual machines to back up other virtual machines in VMware ESXi environments.

That software, called esXpress to show its close relationship to VMware ESXi, does not require additional proxy servers or software agents to back up every virtual server on a physical host server, said Joe Julian, PHD Virtual's executive chairman.

The problem with backing up virtual machines is that there can be so many of them, and the traditional proxy server or software agent approach is too complex, he said.

"It's difficult to determine which virtual machines to back up," he said. "So we back up all virtual machines on an ESX host, and then manage the exceptions via the configuration manager."

PHD Virtual esXpress

While esXpress does virtual backups of virtual machines, it makes them available for backup in a disaster recovery facility by creating a dynamic export directory that can be addressed by a Samba share or by traditional backup software from vendors like Symantec, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, EMC or CommVault.

EsXpress only works in VMware ESXi environments, but a version for VMware's vSphere 4 is expected to be available soon, Julian said. A prototype version for Citrix XenServer was demonstrated last month, he said.

PHD Virtual is currently recruiting solution providers with virtualization experience and consulting ability, with the hope that 85 percent of its revenue will come from channels by 2010, Julian said.

The company currently distributes its products via Lifeboat, but is in talks with a couple of mainstream distributors with virtualization experience, he said.

The software is available with a 30-day trial period, with the lead passed to solution providers to give them an opportunity to talk to customers about their virtual and storage environments, said David Finkelstein, director of marketing for PHD Virtual.

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