TechWatch: LiveState; LanSurveyor; WebEditor

Got a craving for some new software? Symantec, Neon and Namo all have new wares that will appeal to customers looking to manage their corporate infrastructures and create Web sites.

Symantec's Best-Kept Secret

While much of the attention around the Veritas product line acquired by Symantec has focused on the new release of Backup Exec 10d, the best-kept secret in Symantec's data-protection arsenal is a product called LiveState Recovery. Based on technology acquired from PowerQuest two years ago, the new release, dubbed LiveState Recovery 6.0, lets customers perform bare-metal restores of servers and client devices. A key benefit of LiveState Recovery, which now integrates with Backup Exec, is its Restore Anyware option, which lets administrators recover any Windows server or client system to any other Windows server or client, independent of hardware configuration. That eliminates the need to restore a system to identical hardware in the event of a failure. The software also can convert recovery points between real and VMware-compatible virtual environments and vice versa. Using Symantec's pcAnywhere, LiveState recovery lets administrators remotely recover unattended servers from a PC or even a PDA.

Symantec LiveState Recovery, www.symantec.com Price: $1,695

Path To New Discovery

Whether you're managing your customers' local-area networks or wide-area networks, or they're looking to administer their own, Neon Software's LANsurveyor 9.5 will improve network-mapping capabilities. A new repository offers improved diagrams and adds new discovery methods via support for Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) and Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP). The release also provides extended integration with Microsoft Visio and support for Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer 2.0, Microsoft SQL Server and SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE). LANsurveyor 9.5 also supports a Continuous Scan IDS module, an add-on that lets users view intrusions networkwide, including those with multiple switches, from one console.

NEON Software LANsurveyor 9.5, www.neon.com Price: $795, plus client packs ranging from $9 to $20 per node; $495 for Continuous Scan IDS

Web Development Simplified

Looking to create a Web site, but rather not use Microsoft's FrontPage or Macromedia's DreamWeaver? Namo WebEditor 2006 site-design software is an alternative, although it's aimed at more simplified sites. The software offers templates, allows image tracing for layouts and supports Blog editing. Also included is a Web-graphics solution, called WebCanvas 2006, and support for HTML. In addition, Namo offers an optional hosting service. Those purchasing the software will receive 90 days of free hosting.

NAMO WebEditor 2006, www.namo.com Price: $100 per copy