(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Network backup solution provider Arkeia Software (www.arkeia.com) announced this week that it has released a free virtual appliance designed to create backups for VMware virtual machines.
The company says the Arkeia Virtual Appliance Free Use Edition includes software that enables companies running VMware to create a virtual backup solution. Available for download from the Arkeia website, the Free Use Edition includes one Arkeia Backup Server virtual appliance, two Backup Agents for virtual machine clients, up to 250GB of disk backup and technical support via the company’s online knowledge base.
Enough to back up a small VMware implementation, the Free Use Edition should provide interested users with a taste of Arkeia’s backup systems. It can be upgraded to the full paid-for Arkeia Virtual Appliance to take on larger VMware implementations.
“Virtualization creates opportunities for cost-savings and increased flexibility. Virtualized deployment of backup servers represents low-hanging fruit on both fronts,” said Bill Evans, CEO of Arkeia Software. “Backup servers are ideal for virtualization because they are usually under heaviest load at night, when most other applications are lightly used. A virtual-appliance strategy also allows companies to rapidly deploy and scale additional resources on the fly as virtual environments grow and change.”
Arkeia has been a VMware backup partner since 2006.
The free-sample style marketing of its backup solutions appears to be a developing new strategy with the company, which announced in November that it would be offering a free version of its backup system for Ubuntu users.
