Symantec Achieves VMware Ready Data Protection Status

Symantec Corp. announced it was among the first vendors to achieve VMware Ready Data Protection status, indicating successful integration of Symantec Backup Exec, NetBackup and NetBackup PureDisk with VMware vSphere 4.

In order to pass VMware Ready Data Protection testing criteria, Symantec completed specific qualifications and interoperability requirements to ensure its solutions are optimized for VMware environments. VMware Ready Data Protection status provides customers with the assurance that the Backup Exec 12.5 Agent for VMware vSphere 4, NetBackup 6.5.4 and NetBackup PureDisk 6.5 have proven compatibility with the VMware platform, reducing risk and lowering integration costs for organizations.

"By achieving VMware Ready Data Protection status, Symantec demonstrates its deep commitment to helping organizations solve information management challenges by delivering data protection solutions with proven integration and interoperability with VMware vSphere 4," said Parag Patel, vice president, alliances, VMware. "The current relationship between VMware and Symantec is strengthened through Symantec’s participation in the VMware Ready Data Protection program and the successful integration of our solutions is a testament to our companies’ commitment to helping customers better protect mission-critical data."

Backup Exec and NetBackup speed the backup and recovery of information stored on virtual machines. Symantec’s patent-pending Granular Recovery Technology enables Backup Exec and NetBackup to leverage a single pass image backup of the entire guest virtual machine in order to store backup information once and recover anything – including the entire virtual machine, individual virtual disk files, as well as individual files and folders inside virtual disk files. This unique capability results in up to a 50 percent reduction in the backup storage required for VMware environments and additional savings can be derived by leveraging Symantec’s deduplication technology, currently in NetBackup and scheduled to be available in Backup Exec later this year. In a recent independent performance test, Backup Exec and NetBackup delivered superior backup and recovery within virtual environments than other vendors.

"Symantec delivers comprehensive and efficient information management solutions, and we take pride in being among the first companies to deliver data protection solutions optimized for VMware vSphere 4," said Pat Hanavan, vice president of product management, Symantec Information Management Group. "With VMware Ready Data Protection status, organizations can have confidence that Symantec data protection solutions have been tested against the stringent criteria set by VMware and are optimized for their virtual infrastructure."