Solution eliminates need for shared storage for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V customers

SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Double-Take® Software (NASDAQ: DBTK) today announced a solution with Microsoft Corp. that enables disaster recovery for virtual workloads without the cost and complexity of shared storage or storage area network (SAN)-based data replication. The solution uses Double-Take Software’s GeoCluster® to extend the benefits of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 failover clustering and Hyper-V offering customers an unprecedented opportunity to have both a local and remote availability solution for their virtual machines using a single technology. GeoCluster provides the ability to create single site, or site-to-site, clusters using replicated copies of virtual machines, making quick migrations possible across geographic locations and also eliminating shared storage as a single point of failure, ensuring the highest levels of protection for virtual machines.

“Virtualization is proving to be a valuable strategy to help companies manage their costs, and with the current economic downturn, we’re seeing more companies look for virtualization solutions that offer innovation at the right price,” said Bob Roudebush, director of solutions engineering at Double-Take Software. “The Double-Take Software and Microsoft solution offers Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V customers a cost-effective, highly efficient way to create highly-available virtualized environments.”

GeoCluster integrates with Windows Server 2008 failover clustering and Hyper-V providing the benefit of double-duty performance as a local availability solution and as a disaster recovery solution. GeoCluster offers customers the ability to deploy clustered Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V hosts using local copies of clustered virtual machines rather than storing those clustered virtual machines on a SAN. This approach ensures that there are multiple copies of virtual machines available at any given time, significantly reducing the risk of data loss from a site-wide disaster or other catastrophe. Keeping local copies of clustered virtual machines data up to date with replication also allows customers to keep copies of virtual machines in different geographic locations —functionality not available with shared storage solutions.

“Tough economic times are prompting IT organizations to reduce costs through smart virtualization solutions,” said Dai Vu, director of virtualization solutions, Server and Tools Business at Microsoft Corp. “The remote site recovery solution from Double-Take Software and Microsoft is a smart virtualization solution because it eliminates SAN complexity and cost making it easier to deliver high availability and disaster recovery for virtualized environments.”