HP Launches New Version of OmniBack II
HP is launching a new version—Release 3.5—of OmniBack II, its backup and recovery solution. The new version boasts full support for Windows NT/2000 and will be available for the first time in a single server edition for HP-UX. The manufacturing version will be available May 25, with general shipments scheduled for mid-June.
"Full support for Windows means that users are now able to have all components of OmniBack run in a Windows 2000 environment," says Dave Olson, HP’s Americas technical channel manager for OpenView Storage Management Products. Support for Win 2000 includes full protection for Active Directory, Distributed File System, Microsoft NT File System’s (NTFS) new structure, and integration into the Windows management console. The new release also supports HP’s One-Button Disaster Recovery (OBDR) for recovery of NT and 2000 systems.
OmniBack II 3.5 integrates with HP’s local and remote mirroring software, HP SureStore E Business Copy XP and Continuous Access XP, for zero downtime backup on the SureStore E Disk Array XP256, and also with EMC’s local and remote mirroring software for Symmetrix. It is also integrated into OpenView VantagePoint (HP’s enterprise management software for the high end) and OpenView Express (HP’s enterprise management software for the mid-tier).
The new version gives HP-UX users the chance to purchase OmniBack II at an entry-level price. HP is offering a single server edition that will sell for $1,995, a significantly lower price than the enterprise version, which sells for $3,900. Users who purchase the single server version and later want to upgrade to fuller versions of OmniBack do not have to reinstall the software, but can simply upgrade their licenses. The price for an upgrade is $2,500.
HP also has tweaked OmniBack to support new SAN technologies. "The product has been SAN-ready for almost two years," says Olson, "but now we’re supporting newer technologies, such as BROCADE, which HP will be reselling." That means users will be able to connect HP-UX, NT and Solaris systems to the same switch and share the same tape device. Version 3.5 also supports the new Linear Tape Open (LTO) Ultrium technology.
In a bow to service providers, HP will, within the next six months, announce that OmniBack II operates on the management console on the Sun Solaris platform.