Features - Storage Innovations:

NETWORK ENGINES, CA TO DELIVER MOBILE BACKUP APPLIANCE

Network Engines Inc and Computer Associates International Inc announced an agreement to build a mobile backup appliance for the SMB market that will greatly simplify laptop backup and lower total ownership costs.

The CA smart-certified mobile backup appliance will combine the convenience of a dedicated, pre-configured hardware device with the power and flexibility of CA's BrightStor and eTrust technologies. The appliance will address the SMB market requirements for effective, secure, integrated backup and recovery capabilities within the constraints of limited IT resources.

Two distinct configurations -- MBA-30 and MBA-100 -- will offer capacity and scalability at price points that match specific business needs for groups of 30 and 100 users. MBA-30 and MBA-100 will ship with pre-configured copies of CA's BrightStor Mobile Backup and eTrust Antivirus, an embedded Windows 2000 Server operating system, and a pre-configured RAID storage subsystem for optimum fault tolerance.

"MBA-30 and MBA-100 directly address the issues users face when attempting to ensure that critical data residing on their mobile devices is properly protected," said Mike Riley, vice president of marketing and strategy for Network Engines. "By reducing the difficulty and cost of mobile device backups, this turnkey solution helps ensure that necessary backups are performed consistently."

Optimized for the mobile backup environment, MBA-30 and MBA-100 will significantly reduce business risks by ensuring that backups take place even if users aren't connected to the network. Once users are on the network, backups can be scheduled at specific times or triggered by pre-defined events, such as a minimum number of new database entries. Administrators can manage multiple servers from a single management console, reducing the time and effort involved in protecting mobile data.

"Because mobile users take their laptops everywhere, the business data on those machines often is not protected effectively, creating significant business risk," said David Liff, CA's vice president of BrightStor solutions. "This new appliance will offer customers an excellent way to mitigate that risk without increasing the workload on IT or end-users."

Scheduled for release in December, MBA-30 and MBA-100 will be available globally through TidalWire, Network Engines' distribution arm. Pricing for the appliance will begin at $5,400.