Quest Software and StorSimple Join Forces

Quest Software, Inc. announced a strategic initiative with StorSimple to deliver a single VMware Ready certified hybrid cloud backup, restore and disaster recovery solution.

The combination of Quest vRanger and the StorSimple Hybrid Cloud Storage Appliance will give vRanger users access to a VMware virtual machine backup-to-disk solution with automated cloud archiving. Users will be able to perform granular object-level or virtual machine-level restores directly from the cloud.

"Today’s exploding corporate data has organizations actively seeking cost-effective, dynamic cloud-based storage solutions that integrate seamlessly into their enterprise backup and recovery programs, but poor integration between the IT environment and the cloud provider often makes that a challenging proposition," said John Maxwell, vice president, data protection products, Quest Software. "Quest is solving that challenge for users of vRanger by working with StorSimple to deliver access to an innovative technology that simplifies cloud storage by providing primary storage, archiving, data protection and disaster recovery in one simple solution."

Deployed as an appliance in the data center, the StorSimple Hybrid Cloud Storage Appliance makes cloud storage services as accessible and secure as traditional storage, without adding complexity to the existing backup environment. The StorSimple Hybrid Cloud Storage Appliance is an hybrid cloud storage solution to pass VMware Ready certification, and is certified for Windows Server 2008. It is a fit for Quest vRanger, a solution for protecting VMware virtual environments. Simplicity of use and cost effectiveness also are hallmarks of vRanger, which is optimized for one-pass ESX (i) backup and replication and VMware Ready certified.

The new initiative will provide vRanger users with a one-step backup with automatic offsite data protection, without the need for tapes or a complex local storage infrastructure. Restores from vRanger occur with the StorSimple storage tiering algorithm, and, because vRanger reads from the appliance, administrative intervention is not needed to restore data. The combined solution provides disaster recovery using backup and cloud storage, and, in the event of a site-wide disaster, allows vRanger users to employ StorSimple’s CloudSnap technology, along with vRanger’s manifest files, to restore virtual machines directly to another site.

"By storing vRanger data on the StorSimple appliance, Quest’s customers can simply and securely add a backup-to-disk solution with automated cloud archiving to their virtual machine data protection strategy," said Ursheet Parikh, founder and CEO, StorSimple. "Furthermore, the vRanger data stored in the cloud can be restored to any location using StorSimple Cloud Clones to provide enterprise class fast disaster recovery for 90% less cost than traditional solutions."