Data Backups Without DelaysData Backups Without Delays

With the vital role Web sites play in company strategy, many corporate systems shut down rarely, if at all. So the old rules of backup and recovery are obsolete: systems can't be shut down at night or on weekends, and recovery from tapes can't require days.

Revivio Inc. on Monday will debut software that largely takes the time element out of backup and recovery. The company says its Timeframe Data Protection System provides continuous data protection up to an instant before any outage.

With the majority of existing backup and recovery tools, recovery can only go back to prearranged times when some form of backup was initiated. Even if a mirror is taken, somebody must initiate the process. Timeframe is available on a limited basis in North America; pricing starts at $49,999.

An industry analyst says Revivio faces competition from Storage Technology, TimeSpring, and Vyant, but offers some advantages. "Any company that wants to be more competitive would save a lot of time pulling just what they need," says Steve Kenniston at Enterprise Storage Group, "instead of pulling down the whole database."