History 2000: Computer Associates to Veritas

A battle of wills has commenced between rivals Veritas Software and Computer Associates.

The former announced, on June 22, that its version 8.0 of Backup Exec for Windows NT and 2000 now included the ability to read version 6.x of CA’s ARCservelT for NT and NetWare, enhancing its previous capacity to read ARCservelT 4.x and 5.x tapes. In addition, it offered a special migration promotion for current ARCservelT users with up to 60% savings on the new version of Backup Exec.

On the same day, CA published a stinging press release, warning its customers of misleading claims made by Veritas about Backup Exec’s ability to read ARCserve format media. “CA today issued a challenge to Veritas to restore, within four hours of receipt, a backup tape created using the standard ARCservelT for Windows NT version 6.61,” stated the communiqué. “In the event that Veritas succeeds, CA pledges to donate $10,000 to the Natior, 11 Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and challenges Veritas to make a similar commitment.”

Further down, CA put it more bluntly: “It’s time for us to challenge the company to put its money where its mouth is.” [When will we see standardization for magnetic tape backup formats? -Ed.]

This article is an abstract of news published on issue 150 on July 2000 from the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter.