BIOS: Technology Means Business

Big Blue is ready to release a new piece of software that continuously protects information - on laptops, desktop PCs and file servers - from viruses, file corruption, or accidental deletion.

The software, Tivoli Continuous Data Protection for Files, is designed to act a 'data safety net' that provides real-time back up for important information such as Word documents, MP3 files, digital photos, presentations, and spreadsheets containing sales and tax records.

The key strength of the software is that its continuous data protection backs up only the last changes made to a file, unlike snapshot technology that automatically takes a snapshot of your data every hour or half an hour and use a lot of hard disk space. Continuous data protection also backs up only the last changes made to a file, whereas snapshots record the entire file and, as a result, require more storage space.

According to IBM, Tivoli Continuous Data Protection creates a copy on the local machine within milliseconds, and then sends another copy to a remote server. Users on-the-go can protect and restore files that are corrupted or accidentally deleted, back to any point in time, even before they were lost - adding multiple layers of defence against data loss. When a file is saved a copy is stored on local disk, another copy can be sent to a file server or NAS, and another copy can be sent to a TSM Server.

IBM's solution isn't the first to market. In fact, Continuous Data Protection (CDP) is an increasingly popular trend among makers of storage software. Microsoft's forthcoming System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM), will recover data from snapshots to alleviate the burdens of manual data recovery. EMC said at its annual analyst conference that it would add CDP to its arsenal, while Symantec will announce its own plans for real-time data protection next month.

IBM Tivoli Continuous Data Protection for Files will be available on September 16, 2005, at $35 per laptop or desktop, and $995 per server processor. The software will be sold direct through IBM and IBM business partners.