Lucid8 adds data protection to software lineup for Exchange

Messaging management vendor Lucid8 this month plans to release continuous data protection software to help protect e-mail stored in Microsoft Exchange.

DigiVault is disk-based backup designed to help end-users prevent data loss and aid in recovery of corrupt mailboxes on the Exchange server. The software includes a feature called SingleTouch that allows users to recover data from any point in time.

Data protection has become a crowded market  nd Lucid8 will compete with vendors such as XOSoft, Sonasoft and Storeactive. Microsoft also recently released its System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) with intentions of competing directly with vendors such as  Symantec (which acquired Veritas), Computer Associates and start-ups such as Mendocino Software and Mimosa Systems, and storage resource-management vendors AppIQ and Creekpath.

Initially, however, DPM only backs up data on Windows file servers and network-attached storage (NAS) devices and not application layer data.

“It’s all about ensuring that what you back up you can bring back,” says Troy Werelius, president and CEO of Lucid8. “As well as that you can do it in a simplified manner.”

DigiVault is made up of two agents, the DigiVault agent that runs on the Exchange server and the DigiStore agent that runs on the server that hosts the data for backup. Mulitple Exchange servers can back up to a single DigiStore, and the stores also can be linked together to create stores that automatically expand when they become full.

DigiVault backs up data every time new data is committed to the Exchange database using 256-bit encryption during the transmission of that data. The data is compressed up to 80% its normal size to reduce the load on bandwidth.
DigiVault includes a centralized management console that lets administrators set parameters for corporate retention policies including duration and conditions. The software offers controls to validate and check the consistency of data in the back-up repository.

Lucid8 plans to combine DigiVault with its GOexchange management platform to create a suite that will include what it calls the Enterprise System Protector (ESP) framework. The framework supports the creation of modules that can be snapped together. Early in 2006, the next version of GOexchange will be developed under this framework, according to Lucid8.