Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 8 is the gold standard in complete Windows system recovery allowing businesses and IT to recover from system loss or disasters in minutes, even to dissimilar hardware and virtual environments. Helping IT administrators meet recovery time objectives, Backup Exec System Recovery provides system restoration or full bare-metal recovery for servers, desktops or laptops. It also enables you to recover systems in remote, unattended locations.

Backup Exec System Recovery leverages the power of virtualization for seamless physical to virtual (P2V) and virtual to physical (V2P) conversions across both VMware and Microsoft virtual formats. An easy-to-use virtual conversion wizard allows for quick migration directly to VMDK or VHD files.  Users also have the option of loading the VMDK file directly to an ESX server, if that is their platform of choice.

Organizations can realize sizeable IT labor savings as a result of utilizing Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery to support physical-to-virtual server migrations. Additionally, by converting physical systems to virtual environments customers have the capability to conduct preflight testing of patches, application installations, configuration changes, or driver updates in the virtual environment before applying changes to the production systems.

Backup Exec System Recovery captures a recovery point of the entire Windows system—including operating system, applications, system settings, configurations, and files—without impacting user productivity.  This recovery point can be saved to various disk storage devices including SAN, NAS, Direct Attached Storage, RAID, CD/DVD, etc.  To enhance your disaster recovery efforts, Backup Exec System Recovery also includes flexible offsite protection to an FTP location or secondary disk.  When systems fail, Backup Exec System Recovery enables a quick restore without the need for manual, lengthy and error prone processes.

With the new Granular Restore Option you can quickly recover individual Exchange messages, SharePoint documents or files and folders from a single interface. Backup Exec System Recovery also includes integration with Symantec security and systems management solutions and support for Microsoft Windows Server 2008.

Centralized management capabilities in Backup Exec System Recovery Manager simplify administration by providing IT administrators with an at-a-glance view of system recovery jobs.  You can centrally deploy, modify and maintain backup policies for local and remote systems, monitor real-time status, and quickly resolve any identified problems.

SYS-CON’s Virtualization Journal’s “Readers’ Choice Awards”
SYS-CON's Virtualization Journal announced today its first annual Virtualization Readers' Choice Awards. SYS-CON's Readers' Choice Awards, also known as the "Oscars of the Software Industry" has been one of the most prestigious industry award programs for more than a decade. This year's virtualization awards will be given in 17 categories and award-winning products and services will be selected by Virtualization Journal readers.

Virtualization takes the cost and complexity out of IT, and can even help us reduce the CO2 footprint. IDC has stated that the virtualization services market alone is going to reach $11.7 billion by 2011 and in general this technology, which has been around for a good number of years, seems suddenly to be on everyone's mind.

In short, Virtualization is fast becoming a key requirement for every server in the data center, enabling increased workloads in server consolidation projects, efficient software development and testing, resource management for dynamic data centers, application re-hosting and compatibility, and high-availability partitions.

The tipping point, though - as anticipated by industry experts already back in 2005 - seems to be coming in 2008.

2008 will be the year of Virtualization with many companies offering their products and services, including: 3 Leaf, Acronis, Agilysys, Akorri, AMD, APC, Appistry, AppStream, Attune Systems, Avanade, BEA Systems, Blue Lane, Brocade, CA, Cassatt, Certeon, CiRBA, Citrix, ClearCube, Coraid, Crosswalk, DataDirect, DataSynapse, Digipede Technologies, Double-Take Software, Dynamic Network Factory, Ecora Software, Egenera, Embotics, EMC, Enigmatic, Enomaly, EqualLogic, Evault, eXludus Technologies, F5Networks, FalconStor, FastScale Technology, Fortisphere, GlobalFluency, Grid Dynamics, Hitachi, HP, IBM, InovaWave, Intel, KACE, Kidaro, Layeredtech, LeftHand Networks, Leostream, Mainline, ManageIQ, Marathon Technologies, Mellanox Technologies, Microsoft, Mid-Atlantic Computers, Mindbridge Software, Ncomputing, NeoPath Networks, Neoware, Network Appliance, Neverfail, Novell, Opalis Software, OPNET Technologies, Opsware / HP, Oracle, Panologic, Parallels, PlateSpin, Platform Computing, PolyServe, Provision Networks, Raxco Software, Red Hat, Reflex Security, rPath, Sagent Solutions, SAP, Scalent Systems, ScienceLogic, Seanodes, Splunk, Stoneware, StorageNetworking.org, Supermicro Computer, Surgient, SWsoft, Symantec, Tangosol, Thinstall, Tideway Systems, TOA Solutions, TRANGO Virtual Processors, Trigence, United Devices, VeeAm Software, Virtual Iron, VirtualLogix, Virtugo Software, Vizioncore, VMLogix, vmSight, VMware, vThere – Sentillion, Wyse Technology, XDS, XenSource, Xsigo Systems, and ZenithOptimedia.