Microsoft Preps New Release of Data Protection Software
With native support for Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and SQL Server, DPM v2 could cut considerably into the data protection market now dominated by Symantec, EMC, CA, CommVault and BakBone. That's because the initial release only supported files and required significant integration to support other application types.
The added support for Exchange, in particular, could make DPM much more viable for SMBs that are pure Microsoft shops, as well as branch offices of larger enterprises, says Forrester analyst Stephanie Balaouras.
"This makes them hugely competitive with the other data protection products," Balaouras says.
Jason Buffington, a senior product manager at Microsoft, says DPM is only intended for Microsoft products; the company will provide an API to connect to other backup and replication solutions.
"Microsoft customers are looking for us to provide a wholey supported solution for our workloads," Buffington says. "We're not going to be deploying an Oracle or Linux agent."
Nonetheless, there are many organizations where the key backup and recovery concerns revolve around Exchange and Windows files servers. Customers are showing more interest in DPM, Balaouras says.
"It's definitely gotten a lot of interest," she says. "The support applications make a big difference."
That means the pressure will be on for other players to add further value to their solutions. They will have some time to catch up, however. Microsoft's current schedule is to release DPM v2 next summer. Presuming Microsoft meets that ship date, competitors will have a bit less than a year to plan.
Of course, most of Microsoft's rivals offer backup software for PCs as well, something Microsoft has yet to offer. Asked if that was in the offing, Buffington declined comment. Balourous predicts that, ultimately, Microsoft will offer a PC client as well.
"That would be a logical extension," she said.
Microsoft has not said how much the software with the application extensions will cost.