Dell Taps Symantec for CDP

Dell will resell continuous data protection (CDP) software from partner Symantec to help customers fight data loss.

Dell will offer Symantec Backup Exec 10d and the Symantec Backup Exec Continuous Protection Server Suite to give small- and medium-sized businesses disk-based backup and self-service user data recovery.

The software suite also includes Veritas Storage Exec QuickStart, an automated storage management tool that helps businesses improve storage resources.

Symantec acquired the backup technology when it purchased Veritas in a blockbuster software merger earlier this year.

Dell is offering the Symantec Backup Exec Continuous Protection Server Suite with Symantec Backup Exec 10d and Storage Exec QuickStart now for $699.

The Round Rock, Texas, company will sell the software as a standalone or with its PowerEdge servers or PowerVault storage arrays. Dell will also provide services to help customers maintain the backup software for customers who want it.

Kevin Libert, director of alliances at Dell, said in an interview the move is not a swipe at EMC, nor a sign that there is something wrong with Dell’s solid relationship with its premier storage partner. Dell will continue to offer all EMC products to customers, including EMC’s new CDP solutions, he said.

Still, the Symantec-Dell deal highlights the shifting alliances that blockbuster deals can bring.

Symantec acquired EMC rival Veritas Software earlier this year and effectively became a competitor to EMC, which has been gobbling market share in the backup and recovery software space from perennial leader Veritas. EMC and Dell, meanwhile, have had a very profitable storage hardware partnership for several years.

Libert said offering products from EMC and Symantec is a function of Dell’s policy to offer customers additional choices. Moreover, Dell has offered Veritas’ Backup Exec product to customers for more than four years.

“We see a good deal of demand for the Symantec Backup Exec products, predominantly among our small and medium business segments,” Libert said.

CDP is part of a snowballing trend to provide customers with up-to-the-minute backups of files and other important information, spurred by disaster preparedness and compliance regulations that require record protection and retention.

In fact, storage experts say backup, replication and data recovery comprise the bulk of enterprise storage costs today. Recent figures from research firm IDC bear this out.

Article courtesy of InternetNews.com