Innovation Data Processing and CA in Partnership

INNOVATION Data Processing announced a strategic partnership with CA Technologies.

The partnership will enable CA to introduce the addition of UPSTREAM for Linux on Z and UPSTREAM for UNIX on Z, two data protection solutions to their existing portfolio of systems management capabilities.

This new relationship will help expand CA’s business offerings by providing backup, restore and disaster recovery data protection features for businesses consolidating distributed Linux systems onto IBM System z and zEnterprise mainframe systems. Based on INNOVATION’s FDR/UPSTREAM Enterprise and Distributed Data Protection solution, CA’s new UPSTREAM for Linux on Z offering which will optionally also include the UPSTREAM for UNIX on Z capability is expected to become available in the fall.

The Data Protection features of UPSTREAM for Linux on Z will supplement the CA Linux on Z portfolio which already offers a range of software designed to help customers manage and secure z/VM systems that support Linux on System z, and more. Adding UPSTREAM for Linux on Z will also allow CA’s largest customers to set up the backup and recovery facilities necessary to protect their growing store of critical business application data they are migrating to Linux on System z and zEnterprise servers.

"INNOVATION Solutions are at banking, financial, government, health services and insurance customer sites providing data protection for millions of people’s personal and financial information around the world; this is a testament to our unrelenting focus on ease of use and delivering superior business resiliency solutions," said Thomas J Meehan INNOVATION Data Processing Vice President Advance Technology. "Teaming with CA further extends the availability of our high quality solutions to business customers everywhere."

"Data protection is a key area in which our customers need Linux management tools," said Dayton Semerjian, general manager, Mainframe, CA Technologies. "We are offering powerful storage management solutions from INNOVATION to help them simplify operations and fully leverage the cost savings potential of Linux."

UPSTREAM for Linux on Z is a data protection solution for what was once distributed data that is now the foundation for Linux applications being consolidated on the mainframe. UPSTREAM for Linux on Z can help reduce backup, restore and disaster recovery costs, while increasing business resiliency by enabling customers to leverage the use of existing mainframe resources to meet their enterprise data protection needs. The UPSTREAM for Linux on Z solution is designed so that users can schedule timely backups and still meet the need for reliable recovery; of a file, disk volume or an entire data center with confidence.

"We are very pleased to be partnering with CA, which already offers internationally perhaps the broadest spectrum of some of the most popular, widely accepted and easy-to-use mainframe software solutions available today," said Meehan. "CA and INNOVATION both understand that Data Protection, in the form of reliable file level backup and quick file level recovery for applications they are migrating to Linux running on IBM System z and zEnterprise mainframes, is among one of the top concerns of enterprise business customers. This collaboration between INNOVATION and CA represents a significant step towards broadening the market reach of our enterprise data protection technology, while adding attractive features and important capabilities to the CA portfolio that will enable their customers to comfortably, efficiently and effectively improve their business resiliency."