Opsware Unviels Disaster-Recovery Automation Tool

"If you lose one center, everything you need to replicate the data remains in Opsware, so the center that went down can be rebuilt," said Tim Howes, CTO and executive vice president of development at Opsware, based here.

Multimaster Service Automation Module (SAM) automatically synchronizes software and configuration settings easily allowing a server or application environment to be reconstructed. Being able to distribute applications to several centers from one console also alleviates the burden of managing updates across multiple data centers, Howes said.

SAM is the company's first new release since selling its Loudcloud managed hosting business to EDS for $63 million last month. EDS also agreed to buy $52 million worth of Opsware software in the next three years.

In addition to the software play, Opsware is dabbling in consulting as customers ask for help implementing IT operation methodologies.

"What better partner than someone who was in the business?" said Ben Horowitz, co-founder and CEO of Opsware. "They want to know how to predict the cost of running an application, manage costs or gain efficiencies."

Over time, Opsware plans to develop a channel strategy, said Marc Andreessen, co-founder of the company.

Andreessen told CRN the channel will play a significant role as a sales and implementation arm for Opsware, but in the short term, the software will be sold direct.