Microsoft Wants Disk Backup Action

Microsoft has announced a disk-to-disk backup application. This says that not only has disk-to-disk backup arrived, but it's created a market big enough to attract the money-sniffing nose of the world's largest software company.

Called "Data Protection Server", Microsoft claims it will be available in the second half of 2005. Taking into account the usual Microsoft propensity for overpromising and underdelivering, 2006 might be more realistic. As usual, Microsoft's best hope of edging into a market that already has established players (e.g., Veritas and EMC) lies in leveraging its operating system monopoly, not in delivering a superior product. Vendors such as Veritas must already be feeling nervous about whether they'll have access to the required technical information on the upcoming Longhorn release, or whether a few insider hooks might be left undocumented for all but Microsoft's own backup product.

You can read Computerworld's coverage of the announcement, visit Microsoft's press release announcing the product, and go to the Data Protection Server homepage, where you can register for the "Open Evaluation" (which may encourage them to actually go ahead and create the product!)

September 29, 2004September