CA Unveils Beta of ARCserve Version 9

Computer Associates International

The new version of ARCserve, expected to be available in September, is a complete rework of the company's flagship backup software, with new technologies to simplify the installation and to ease the burden of managing storage, said Marco Coulter, vice president of the company's BrightStor strategy.

In the latest version, every screen was modified with the aim of changing the workflow of the backup and recovery process, including cutting the number of mouse clicks involved in each operation, Coulter said.

A new scheduling feature cuts administrators' workloads by automating such routine tasks as drive cleaning and database maintenance, in the same manner as routine backups are now scheduled, all via a common interface, Coulter said.

The software also allows separate backup paths to be defined within a TCP network to reduce the possibility of clogging up the network during backup operations.

A complete command-line interface now allows integrators to better integrate the management software with other storage products, Coulter said. The application now works with Windows XP Professional environments and is slated to be certified with .Net soon, he said.

CA's solution providers should find ARCserve a good way to boost revenue for themselves as well as for CA, as this is the first new version release since 2000, Coulter said. The software, whose main competitor is Veritas' Backup Exec, will continue to be available exclusively through two-tier distribution, he said.

JENNIFER HAGENDORF FOLLETT contributed to this story.