CA's new software helps servers stay up
Computer Associates is expanding its network management software with a new tool that allows applications to continue to run even when a server crashes.
CA at PC Expo tomorrow will announce new software that replicates the data to a second server, so users can continue to access e-mail, databases, network management software, and Web-based applications when an outage occurs, said Allan Mohess, CA's product marketing manager for storage.
The product, called SurviveIT Advanced Edition, is part CA's attempts to better penetrate medium-sized businesses, said analyst Stephen Elliot, of Dataquest.
CA and other network management software makers, including Tivoli, Hewlett-Packard and BMC Software, have started to focus on the mid-sized business market, because it accounts for about $2 billion in annual sales, about 25 percent of the overall network management market, he said.
The medium-sized businesses have felt ignored by the network management software makers in the past, Elliot said. For example, they felt CA's Unicenter TNG--a management framework for large businesses, was too difficult and would take too long to implement, Elliot said.
"There's this perception that there's no return on investment, that it takes too long to implement, and that they just don't have the time," he said. "You can't sell huge, enterprise products to [smaller businesses.]"
SurviveIT, shipping on July 1 for Windows NT, will join CA's family of IT products, which include software for security and desktop, help desk and Internet management.
The product can replicate data over a local or wide area network, Mohess said. It doesn't require additional hardware and can run on the existing network, so a Microsoft SQL Server can back up a Microsoft Exchange server and vice versa.
The new product fills a hole CA believes it needs to fill in its family of IT products, Elliot said. "They're leaving no room for error and no opportunity for the customer to leave."
CA expects SurviveIT will serve a big need for businesses. "We see a huge opportunity. People are less forgiving when it comes to IT problems now," he said. "If you do not have availability on the Web site, and someone is trying to hit your Web site, most clients will immediately go to a competitor and visit their Web site."
SurviveIT, which will cost $2,495, will support 10 products: CA's Unicenter TNG and Jasmine database; Lotus Notes Server, Microsoft Exchange, SQL Server, Internet Information Server, and Proxy Server; Netscape SuiteSpot, Oracle Enterprise Server and Sybase Adaptive Server.
The 10 products should cover about 90 percent of all applications, CA executives said.