CommVault, McAfee Forge Storage And Security Alliance

Storage software vendor CommVault and security software developer McAfee are taking a page from the playbooks of Symantec and EMC by combining forces to bridge storage and security.

The two companies this week said they are working together to integrate a data and security management solution.

Under the agreement, McAfee's ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO) security risk management software will be modified to work with CommVault's Simpana suite of backup, replication, archive and storage resource management software.

The two have agreed to align the development of their applications, as well as their marketing and sales resources, said Michael McMahon, senior director of worldwide OEM for CommVault.

Enterprise customers are under great pressure to secure their data but would like solutions to both protect and manage that data, McMahon said. However, he added, data management people historically report to the company's storage administrators, while security people report to the network administrators.

"Now we're seeing these come together," he said. "We're seeing the emergence of the CSO, the 'chief security officer.' " And it makes sense for solution providers to take a combined solution to that CSO, he said.

For that reason, CommVault and McAfee are working together in three areas, McMahon said.

The first is to integrate the Simpana and ePO applications so that they can provide a holistic view of a company's server status. For example, if a customer's backup was not run properly or failed, it could result in an out-of-compliance situation. Simpana will be able to send a message to the ePO dashboard about the problem, McMahon said. It could also flag someone changing the backup routine without understanding the impact on compliance, he said.

The second is to help prevent data leakage by flagging any backups of data done outside the standard backup window, McMahon said.

The third is to better enable remote data management by letting the two companies' software applications work together in the central data center and remote office environments, he said.

For CommVault and McAfee, the relationship is a chance to work together against a primary common enemy, Symantec, which offers security and storage applications that are already in the early stage of integration.

"Symantec is our primary competitor, especially as CommVault continues to move upstream," McMahon said. "We go in and see Symantec adding storage to their security products, and we walk away. McAfee sees it, too. So now when our partners see a storage and security opportunity, they can bring McAfee in. And McAfee partners can do the same."

While the two plan to work together, they will not sell each other's products, McMahon said.

"Our sales reps will have an understanding of McAfee, but they won't resell it," he said. "McAfee will have an understanding of CommVault, but they won't resell it. But there will be joint messaging."

The integrated offerings and joint marketing and sales programs are expected to be available early next year, McMahon said.

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