AvePoint Introduces Free Tool for SharePoint BLOB Management

AvePoint, Inc., provider of infrastructure management software solutions for Microsoft SharePoint, will be offering its DocAve Extender tool free of charge to North American based organizations, as part of its March 11, 2010 release of the latest version of its award-winning DocAve Software Platform (v5.4).

DocAve Extender enables the efficient management of all BLOBs (Binary Large Objects), which can consume up to 95 percent of SharePoint’s SQL Server Content Database storage, potentially leading to poor database performance and a degraded user experience.

An independently deployable module within the DocAve Software Platform, DocAve Extender is being offered free of charge to North American based organizations with Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007 or SharePoint Server 2010 deployments, to help them take full advantage of Microsoft’s External BLOB Store Provider (for Microsoft SharePoint 2007) and Remote BLOB Storage (for SQL 2008 SP2 and leveraged by SharePoint 2010), instantly routing BLOBs to disk-based storage the moment an end-user uploads them to SharePoint. AvePoint’s free DocAve Extender tool delivers granular control over how and where SharePoint content is stored, including the ability to select which SharePoint Site Collections to apply extended BLOB storage capabilities to, control over what size objects are treated as BLOBs, and compression and encryption options.

DocAve Extender is one of three independently deployable modules within the DocAve Storage Optimization Suite, which also includes DocAve Archiver and DocAve Connector. DocAve Archiver further enhances storage management by delivering true SharePoint data lifecycle management through business-rule based archiving of SharePoint content to external storage, including network or cloud-based storage. DocAve Connector unleashes SharePoint scalability by enabling the migration-free attachment of network and cloud file shares to SharePoint, letting end users leverage SharePoint as their full-function presentation and management layer for all legacy file share and media content. Together, DocAve Extender, Archiver, and Connector provide a complete storage optimization solution for Microsoft SharePoint 2007 and 2010, empowering organizations to ensure their platforms are highly performant and scalable.

"Nimble control over BLOB storage is an important first step for organizations wanting to improve management of their SharePoint storage resources, and so we are proud to offer DocAve Extender free of charge to the North American SharePoint community," said Dr. Tianyi (TJ) Jiang, AvePoint’s Chief Operating Officer. "Used in tandem with efficient content lifecycle management through DocAve Archiver and the connection of legacy file stores to SharePoint through DocAve Connector, the DocAve Storage Optimization Suite provides administrators with a complete solution to address all of their SharePoint storage needs."

SharePoint Storage Optimization Becoming a Top Concern
AvePoint is providing its DocAve Extender tool free of charge in response to the changing landscape of the SharePoint storage optimization space. When organizations first deploy SharePoint, storage management is usually not a chief concern. But as SharePoint adoption accelerates and the platform is leveraged for increasingly mission-critical tasks, including enterprise content management, administrators soon realize that SQL resource management is absolutely vital to ensuring optimal platform performance and business productivity. The ability to route BLOBs to disk or cloud-based storage is critical for reducing the amount of content residing on the SQL database. By offering this tool for free, AvePoint is providing SharePoint administrators the opportunity to utilize the industry’s most award-winning and reliable SharePoint solution to meet this immediate need. Then, as their needs evolve, administrators will have the ability to easily supplement their BLOB management with full business-rule aware data lifecycle management and archiving (DocAve Archiver), to connect legacy data stores and file shares to SharePoint (DocAve Connector), or to seamlessly use any of the other DocAve tools without having to worry about compatibility and interoperability with their BLOB management solution.

How To Download the Free DocAve Extender
AvePoint’s DocAve Extender will be available for download free of charge from the AvePoint website on March 11, 2010. After downloading the free, fully enabled 30-day trial of the full DocAve Software Platform, North American based organizations that wish to continue using DocAve Extender have to contact AvePoint to receive their perpetual license for DocAve Extender.

DocAve Extender is one of 25 independently deployable modules within the award-winning DocAve Software Platform, a comprehensive infrastructure management and protection solution for Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies. With a unified, browser-based user interface and fully distributed architecture, DocAve provides best-in-class solutions for SharePoint data protection, administration, compliance, replication, reporting, storage optimization, and migration.