Public Relations

Asgent Announces Start of Sale for Image Backup Software “ShadowProtect4”

- Realizing fast high-integrity fault recovery and enhanced support for virtual environments -

December 16, 2010
Asgent,Inc.
（JASDAQ：4288）

Asgent, Inc. (President & CEO: Takahiro Sugimoto, located in Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo), a pioneer in network security and operations management solutions, announces the start of sales for “ShadowProtect4”, the latest version of the “ShadowProtect” image backup product line, with enhanced functionality for virtual environments and providing fault recovery for large enterprise systems.

Business continuity and the minimization of disruptions to business flow as a result of server or system failures is an important theme and issue that companies must constantly deal with. “ShadowProtect4” is image backup software that provides not only fast high-integrity fault recovery and data protection but also allows for rapid access to failed servers through migration of the Windows server system to different hardware and virtual environments, which in turn minimizes business downtime.

“ShadowProtect4” provides the ability to completely recover backup data regardless of machine configuration or physical/virtual environment and without the need for complicated OS installation etc. Servers running server applications such as Windows OS, Microsoft Exchange Server, SQL Server etc. and any related data can be completely backed up and recovered in case a server fault occurs. Also, improvements in management, operation and support for virtualization of backup image files, monitoring of storage devices and redundant operations are now possible.

The new and enhanced features of “ShadowProtect4” are as below.

【Differentiation with Competitors】

1) New Feature: “HeadStart Restore (HSR)”. Reduction in recovery time for system migration

Backup an existing system with no downtime and proactively recover to migration systems, then power down the existing system, take a differential backup and recover it to the migration system. The migration is now complete. This functionality allows for system migration with only the few minutes of downtime required to take the final differential backup and recover it to the new system. Even large systems with hundreds of GB or even TB of data, which would previously have required hours or even days for migration, can be migrated with the minimum amount of corporate downtime.

【In short】

ShadowProtect4: System migration within mere minutes of system downtime
Competitor Products: Hours or days of system downtime are required for migration

【Merit】

Using ShadowProtect4 allows companies to minimize business downtime (to mere minutes).

2) New Feature: “ImageManager Enterprise”. Automatic conversion to virtual disk formats

Automatically convert existing backup image files to virtual disk formats (.VHD, .VMDK). Automatically add daily incremental files to existing converted files and save them as one virtual disk file. Reboot the virtual disk file using Hardware Independent Restore (HIR) on a virtual system and start operations on a system spanning hundreds of GB or even TB in just a few minutes. Rapid recovery in the case of a failure minimizes business downtime.

【In short】

ShadowProtect4: System recovery in virtual environment within mere minutes of system downtime
Competitor Products: Hours or days of system downtime are required for system recovery

【Merit】

Using ShadowProtect4 allows companies to minimize business downtime in case of failure.

3) New Feature: “Remote Replication”. Automatic replication of backup image files

Automatically replicate daily backup image files to local or network drives, cloud storage and store backup images remotely for disaster recovery or archiving purposes. This is the first time that disaster recovery is possible in this class of image backup software.

【In short】

ShadowProtect4: Disaster recovery through automatic replication
Competitor Products: No support for replication; dedicated software is required

【Merit】

Using ShadowProtect4 allows companies to implement a disaster recovery system at a low cost.

4) New Feature: One-step booting of backup images as virtual machines “VirtualBoot”

Boot existing backup image files as virtual disks on Oracle VM VirtualBox without the need for file conversion. Systems can be temporarily operated as virtual machines until the main system is recovered. Whereas previous image backup software require hours or days of downtime to recover systems with hundreds of GB or even TB of data, this function allows companies to minimize business downtime to mere minutes.

【In short】

ShadowProtect4: System recovery within mere minutes of system downtime
Competitor Products: Hours or days of system downtime are required for system recovery

【Merit】

Using ShadowProtect4 allows companies to minimize business downtime in case of failure.

【Functionality Enhancements】

5) Enhancement: “Management Console”. Manage ShadowProtect across the network

Centrally manage the status of “ShadowProtect4” installed in PCs and servers across the network. “ShadowProtect4” can also be installed remotely on network machines with the “push install” function, reducing the burden on system administrators.

6) Enhancement: “ImageManager”. Manage and monitor backup image files and storage disks

Management functionality for existing backup image files and monitoring for storage disks, automatic verification of increment backup image files in real-time and periodic re-verification of existing backup files have been newly added. Proactively prevent file corruption that could prevent system recovery. Compress image backup files to save disk space by automatically consolidating incremental image backup files on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Thresholds can be set to alert the administrator when remaining disk space reaches a set level or to send a summary of daily backup operations, including whether backups were successful or failed, along with many other notification functions. This function also reduces the burden on system administrators.

【ShadowProtect】

Developer:

StorageCraft Technology Corporation

Start of Sales:

December 16, 2010

Sales Target:

300 Million Yen (ShadowProtect Series)

Product Price (tax not included):

ShadowProtect Server: \98,000

ShadowProtect Desktop: \8,900

ShadowProtect IT Edition (1 year license): \350,000

ShadowProtect IT Edition (3 month license): \135,000

ImageManager Enterprise (1 job): \29,900

※Above prices are for commercial license. Prices include initial year maintenance and 1 media pack.

【Main Features of “ShadowProtect 4”】

• Rapid system recovery to different hardware or virtual environment without the need for complicated OS installation etc.
• Easy migration to new Windows servers
• Complete and incremental backups based on schedule
• Individual folder and file recovery
• Recovery when migrating with minimum system downtime using HeadStart Restore
• Automatic conversion of image backup files to virtual disk format using ImageManager Enterprise
• Unified backup management and remote installation to network machines through management console
• Automatic or manual verification of backup images, periodic automatic re-verification
• Automatic consolidation of image backup files on daily, weekly or monthly basis
• Automatic replication of image backup files with Remote Replication
• Boot image backup files as virtual disks without the need for conversion using VirtualBoot

* All company names or product names are registered trademarks of their respective companies.