Quoting from the press release:

The recovery of an entire Windows server has never been an easy task. Today, Double-Take(R) Software and PlateSpin formed a partnership to offer centralized backup of entire Windows servers with a full recovery solution that is fast, flexible and hardware-independent. Customers using Double-Take(R) by Double-Take Software coupled with PlateSpin PowerConvert experience continuous, whole-server protection and bare-metal recovery. They can restore servers automatically and recover business-critical data immediately onto any physical or virtual platform, rather than manually installing everything from scratch, application by application.

"The first initiative of this new partnership between Double-Take Software and PlateSpin provides customers with a solution that uses the best technologies from both companies," said John Stetic, Director of Product Management at PlateSpin. "Our customers are looking for proven, reliable and cost-effective ways to address their business continuity needs. By leveraging PlateSpin's OS Portability technology in PowerConvert and the replication technology within Double-Take, they can reduce costs by achieving an unprecedented level of restore flexibility and speed."

The complementary solution from Double-Take Software and PlateSpin is optimal for disaster recovery because it creates a copy of an entire server, including the OS, applications and data. The server and its applications can be replicated locally or across long-distance WAN connections, to a central backup repository. Systems can then be quickly restored to the same or different hardware, or even to a virtual machine. The simple recovery process leverages Double-Take's real-time protection capability for a continuously updated copy of the data and PlateSpin PowerConvert's OS Portability technology which provides hardware-independent restore, eliminating the need to reinstall or reconfigure a failed system.

Traditional imaging or backup solutions require recovery to identical hardware or data protection involving point-in-time-based image captures. This results in out-of-date image archives requiring administrators to manually reinstall and reconfigure the server's OS and applications before recovery can occur. The time to recover can usually take hours and even days in some situations.

"With this joint solution, customers can simply replicate entire servers back to a central site to maintain a continuously updated recovery image," said Bob Roudebush, Director of Solutions Engineering at Double-Take Software. "They can enjoy reliable, whole-server recovery at a fraction of the time and cost it takes to use solutions like tape-based data recovery."

For People's Choice Home Loan, Inc., a mortgage banking company providing nationwide wholesale and retail mortgages, centralizing backup for all Windows environments is extremely attractive.

"We are always looking for ways to simplify our IT operations and help deliver services more cost-effectively to our employees," said Ed Ingram, Senior Systems Engineer at People's Choice. "The Double-Take and PowerConvert combination would give our IT administrators an ideal solution for time-intensive, stressful recovery processes that normally bring the company and its technical resources to a standstill. Because it's hardware-independent, it works with my current infrastructure, eliminating the need for additional purchases."

Customers can take advantage of the companies' joint solution by purchasing Double-Take by Double-Take Software and PlateSpin PowerConvert. For more information, please visit www.doubletake.com or www.platespin.com.