ISVs Launch New Products For Microsoft's Latest Software

The applications demonstrated on the floor at the Orange County Convention Center ranged from e-mail backup/recovery and system management tools to workflow platforms, application virtualization and Web 2.0 products for .Net application development.

Here's a rundown of some vendors introducing new offerings at TechEd:

&#149 Double-Take Software demonstrated its upgraded data protection and recovery platform for Exchange Server and SQL Server. The updated DoubleTake platform offers a new reporting center that collects and analyzes data, predicts future protection scenarios and makes recommendations to prevent outages. It also includes an enhanced application manager that improves protection, reduces recovery times and increases application availability for Exchange Server and SQL Server. The new version offers support for Exchange 2007, advanced Exchange cluster support and SQL named instance protection.

The Southborough, Mass., company also recently unveiled Double-Take Server Recovery, which handles real-time data protection and recovery for the entire server, including operating system, applications and data.

&#149 AppAssure, Reston, Va., announced the availability of Replay for Exchange, a new product that offers rollback for one message or an entire server -- or somewhere in between -- in a few clicks. The product uses block-level continuous data protection to protect the Exchange database. ReplayLive offers quick volume recovery time from hours to minutes, while ReplayViews offers partners virtual views into any point-in-time recovery point created by Replay. The product also offers powerful search features for e-mail discovery and legal needs. It supports Exchange 2003 SP1 and Exchange 2007.

&#149 On the workflow front, Captaris, Bellevue, Wash., demonstrated its recently released Workflow 6.5. The new platform integrates with Office SharePoint Server 2007, Office InfoPath 2007, Office Forms Server 2007, SQL Server 2005 Express and enhanced support of BizTalk Server 2006's business rules policies. The workflow platform's simulation module also supports the new .Net Windows Workflow Foundation to enable what-if scenarios to optimize performance. It's aimed at channel partners serving vertical markets.

&#149 Symantec, Cupertino, Calif., showed off an updated version of Altiris Virtualization Solution 2.1 with new support for Vista and application streaming via a partnership with Appstream. Symantec finalized its acquisition of Lindon, Utah-based Altiris in April. The new features improve application compatibility and offer on-demand application delivery to the desktop. Version 2.1, available now, is priced at roughly $30 per node. The Professional version, which includes application streaming, is priced at $55 per node.

&#149 TNT Software, Vancouver, British Columbia, shipped ELM Enterprise Manager 5.0, a real-time monitoring, alert, reporting and archiving solution for the Windows platform for SMBs. The upgrade offers a new ELM Editor for generating ad hoc reports for audit support and comprehensive access to SQL Server and a Database Archive Management System that automatically prunes archived data at preset periods, critical for businesses that store gigabytes of data each month. It also includes a Windows configuration monitor and monitoring for events, IIS, SQL Server, Cluster Server, Exchange Server and Web pages. The upgrade, too, offers an environmental monitor, configuration monitor, EVT file collector and SNMP collector.

&#149 Quest Software, Aliso Viejo, Calif., unveiled Change Director for SQL Server, which allows proactive monitoring of databases and change rollbacks as required, reducing the risk of outages. The product is available now.

Quest also announced enhancements to its Performance Analysis for SQL Server 6.0 and Toad for SQL Server 3.0. Performance Analysis has been retrofitted with a new profiling tool called IntelliProfile, which continually monitors database performance and behavior and creates baselines that help sort out problems from normal behavior. Quest Toad for SQL Server has been enhanced with job management logging and logging of all executed SQL commands, as well as server-side filtering, all while maintaining version control features for collaboration.

&#149 Strangeloop Networks, Vancouver, took the wraps off AppScaler, an appliance that boosts the performance of dynamic Web applications developed with Microsoft's ASP.Net Framework. Due out in September, AppScaler is designed to boost the performance and scalability of ASP.Net and Ajax-based applications tenfold and slahs bandwidth use by more than 80 percent, providing faster delivery of applications at lower cost.

&#149 Falafel Software, San Jose, Calif., introduced a Web 2.0 project management solution called ActiveFocus, designed to manage products throughout their life cycle. The platform is designed for products developed using ASP.Net and AJAX applications on SQL Server.