Press Releases
B&L ASSOCIATES ANNOUNCES VERTICES COMPREHENSIVE TAPE LOGGING MODULE FOR HP OPENVIEW OMNIBACK™ II
B&L Associates extends its leading tape management system for open system environments...
NEEDHAM, Mass. - Aug. 8, 2000 - B&L Associates, Inc., a leader in open systems tape/media management, today announced automatic tape logging for Hewlett-Packard's OpenView OmniBack™ II. This new logging capability, using B&L's Vertices® tape/media management system, enables system administrators to create and manage hundreds to thousands of tapes across the enterprise by leveraging the file management capabilities of OmniBack™ II. Vertices maximizes business continuity enabling customers to implement complete disaster recovery solutions.
This announcement follows the introduction of Vertices automated tape logging capabilities for Computer Associates' ARCserve®IT™ and Veritas' Backup Exec™. Vertices delivers a new level of tape management capabilities for UNIX and Microsoft Windows NT systems, addressing the need to provide higher levels of availability through heterogeneous tape management.
"As servers proliferate and information continues to be created at an unprecedented rate, today's businesses have taken control of their online backup strategies. Unfortunately, the concept of managing the removable media that holds mission-critical information is sorely overlooked," said Michael Kramer, vice president of sales and marketing at B&L. "OmniBack™ II customers now can rely on Vertices to provide efficient tape management solutions as part of an overall strategy to ensure that critical information is always available."
Tape Management for the Global Enterprise
Tape management in mainframe environments has remained a staple in data center tools for the past 25 years. Until now, tape management for distributed systems has been an afterthought. Working to achieve acceptable levels of data continuity, system administrators increasingly create duplicate copies of business-critical data to quickly recover from disasters and store them offsite. Although some data is archived offsite for legal reasons, most data centers attempt to maintain data availability in the event of local catastrophes. Traditional methods of backup and recovery to tape are usually used. Whether the tape is onsite or offsite, if the tape cannot be located in the allotted time window, the ramifications could be disastrous.
Vertices from B&L Associates, overcomes the limitations of traditional backup solutions by managing tapes through integration with system management applications. Since Vertices automatically moves tapes based on the predefined parameters of the data set, system administrators are able to implement a comprehensive business continuity strategy by knowing where each tape is and allowing operators to locate tapes in a fraction of the time. In addition, Vertices lets the administrators know when a tape must move to another location and when tapes are available for reuse. The result is the most efficient and flexible storage management solution that raises tape management to the level demanded by today's interactive environments.
The Vertices Software Suite
Vertices delivers a complete suite of solutions that addresses the media management needs of today's ever changing IT environment. It provides centralized management and complete automation of all media tasks across the enterprise. In addition, Vertices extends data protection beyond traditional backup applications. Vertices' options and agents are grouped strategically into solution areas to offer maximum flexibility in customizing a media management solution to meet the specific needs of any environment.
- Vertices Core Solutions provide the essential media management tools for enterprise environments. These include retention, vault, security and inventory management.
- Scanning Solutions simplify the logging and reconciling of media. Scanners let operators quickly and easily enter media information into the Vertices database for efficient, accurate tape management.
- Label Writing Solutions enable users to print whatever information the tape labels require for quick access to media information.
- Automation Agent Modules increase environment efficiency and minimize administrative costs by automatically interfacing with most popular backup applications including ARCserveIT, Backup Exec and OmniBack™ II.
About B&L Associates
B&L Associates, established in 1975, is the largest media management provider to the Unisys ClearPath marketplace and a leader in open systems media management. The company offers a full suite of data center operations automation products and storage management solutions, as well as on-line scheduling, billing and labeling systems through a network of qualified value added resellers (VARs). B&L, with installations in 26 countries, serves some of the world's leading organizations, including Electronic Data Systems (EDS), the Home Shopping Network, the city of Miami, the state of Michigan, the General Services Administration, and Unisys Corporation. B&L is a Computer Associates Unicenter TNG Development Partner and Vertices has achieved the "Unicentered" level of integration. For further information, contact B&L at 877-VERTICES (877-837-8423) or http://www.bandl.net.
B&L, the B&L Associates logo, the BBARS logos, BL/SCHED, BL/PACK, BL/SOURCE, BL/DIST, and BL/LIB are registered trademarks of B&L Associates, Inc. VERTICES®, the Vertices® logo, and THE POINT WHERE ALL MEDIA COME TOGETHER are registered trademarks and VERTICES AUTOMATION MODULE™, VERTICES AUTOMATION AGENT™, VERTICES BAR CODE SCANNING MODULE™, and VERTICES LABELWRITER MODULE™ are trademarks exclusively licensed to B&L Associates, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Editors for further information contact:
L.J. DiCarlo
B&L Associates
781/444-1404
ljdicarlo@bandl.com
Sandy McLaughlin
Soucy Communications Group
978/266-1700
sandym@scg-pr.com