Arcserve has shipped a new release of its Unified Data Protection (UDP) solution with expanded ransomware prevention functionality from Sophos plus new backup features for Nutanix hyperconverged infrastructure deployments and Oracle databases.
Version 8.0 of UDP, which is available now, extends integration with Intercept X, Sophos’s next-generation, behavior-based endpoint security solution, to users of the product’s on-premises software edition. That feature was previously available only in the Arcserve system’s appliance- and cloud-based versions.
“Now our customers on a software product can implement the same level of protection that was previously available on our appliances and cloud services,” says Sam Roguine, a BC/DR evangelist and ransomware prevention expert at Arcserve.
Users can employ Intercept X to secure both physical and virtual environments at no extra cost and with no additional licensing. UDP automatically deploys the Sophos software and tunes its policies and settings for use with UDP workloads. According to Roguine, additional administrative overhead following installation is minimal.
“It’s very much fire and forget,” he says. “Our customers rarely need to do any management for Sophos apart from receiving alerts if anything goes awry”.
New protection for Nutanix environments in both the appliance and software editions of UDP adds support for Nutanix Files and Nutanix Objects to previously introduced protection for the Nutanix AHV hypervisor. UDP protects hypervisors from VMware and Microsoft, among others, as well.
Also debuting in UDP 8.0 is protection for Oracle databases via native integration with Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN). The new feature lets Oracle users employ RMAN functionality from within the same console they use to manage other Arcserve workloads, rather than open and operate RMAN separately.
“They can go to our interface [and] connect to their Oracle database, and Arcserve UDP will take care of the rest,” Roguine says.
RMAN support covers both standalone Oracle databases and Oracle RAC clusters. Utilizing integration between UDP’s Assured Recovery feature and RMAN’s BACKUP VALIDATE command, administrators can also confirm the integrity and usability of Oracle backups.
Arcserve sells exclusively through the channel, primarily to midsize and “emerging enterprise” organizations with 500 to about 5,000 users. Making Sophos ransomware prevention available in all editions of UDP, the company says, lets partners position the product as a combination BDR and security offering.
“That drives a much easier conversation with IT teams and with stakeholders,” Roguine observes. It also gives UDP resellers access to a big incremental market opportunity, he continues. “The cybersecurity market is about seven times larger than the overall storage software market.”
Both Acronis and Carbonite have similarly built their product strategy around combining security and backup functionality in an integrated platform.
Arcserve added subscription-based universal licensing to UDP last October. It announced a pending merger with data protection vendor StorageCraft last week.
