Symantec Announces OpenStorage API Designed to Enable Integration of NetBackup with Intelligent Disk Devices

New opportunity for Symantec partners to integrate with NetBackup supported by industry leading providers of disk-based backup technology including COPAN Systems, Data Domain, Diligent Technologies, EMC, FalconStor, Network Appliance, Quantum, SEPATON and Sun Microsystems
Symantec Announces OpenStorage API Designed to Enable Integration of NetBackup with Intelligent Disk Devices New opportunity for Symantec partners to integrate with NetBackup supported by industry leading providers of disk-based backup technology including Copan Systems, Data Domain, Diligent Technologies, EMC, FalconStor, Network Appliance, Quantum, Sepaton and Sun Microsystems

CUPERTINO, Calif. – Nov. 14, 2006 – Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced plans to offer a new application programming interface (API) called the Symantec NetBackup OpenStorage API, designed to allow intelligent disk devices to integrate natively with NetBackup, the market-leading enterprise backup and recovery product. Customers will benefit by being able to adopt innovative disk devices that deliver seamless connectivity and management with NetBackup.

Integration between intelligent disk devices and backup software has been a challenge for the industry. Since major backup applications haven’t provided a purpose-built API for integration to date, it has been difficult for intelligent disk backup devices to offer advanced functionality beyond basic interoperability. The NetBackup OpenStorage API will change the landscape by allowing intelligent disk device vendors to natively integrate with NetBackup to deliver a seamless and more functional solution for customers.

The NetBackup OpenStorage API is planned to allow NetBackup to “treat disk as disk” and specifically enable the following disk-based backup features:

* High-speed backup and recovery to intelligent disk devices over Fibre Channel or IP connections;
* Disk sharing and virtualization, allowing a pool of disk to be shared by multiple NetBackup Media Servers – the virtualization enables Media Server load-balancing, high-availability, and failover;
* Better utilization of disk by leveraging the single-instance-storage capabilities of partner devices;
* Backup image replication between multiple data centers for disaster recovery or electronic vaulting, eliminating the need to ship, encrypt, or store tapes;
* Duplication of backup images from disk devices to tape for long-term archiving, leveraging a NetBackup Media Server;
* Simplified management, allowing a single NetBackup policy layer and catalog to control both backup/recovery.

“Intelligent disk providers want to enhance their solutions to meet customers’ growing backup and recovery needs and provide more advanced disk-based data protection capabilities, including single instance storage and backup image replication,” said Rick Huebsch, vice president NetBackup, of Symantec. “With the introduction of the NetBackup OpenStorage API, these providers will be able to enable their intelligent disk devices to take advantage of the high-performance data protection, recovery, and management capabilities of NetBackup.”

“There is a growing need in the market for technologies that help reduce complexity. This will be the first solution available that leverages the performance and features of disk storage devices while also enabling NetBackup to control various advanced backup techniques via a single interface,” said Dianne McAdam, director, Enterprise Information Assurance, Clipper Group, a technology consultancy and advisory firm.

To benefit from the new NetBackup OpenStorage API, Symantec currently offers a software development kit (SDK) and training to partners through the Symantec Technology Enabled Program (STEP). The OpenStorage API is scheduled to be generally available as part of NetBackup 6.5 in mid- 2007, at which time several OpenStorage partners will have devices available in the market to leverage the API. Customer opportunities to jointly beta-test NetBackup 6.5, the OpenStorage API, and OpenStorage partner devices will be available in the first half of 2007.

About Symantec

Symantec is the world leader in providing solutions to help individuals and enterprises assure the security, availability, and integrity of their information. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has operations in more than 40 countries. More information is available at www.symantec.com.

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Symantec Partner Quote Sheet

Symantec OpenStorage API & Symantec OpenStorage Partner Program Announcement

“Symantec has long been a leader in enterprise backup and recovery and numerous Data Domain solutions have been successfully implemented by Symantec NetBackup users,” said Beth White, Vice President of Marketing for Data Domain. “As a leader in enterprise protection storage, Data Domain’s objective is to provide disk backup and network-based disaster recovery solutions that integrate seamlessly into customers’ existing infrastructures. Symantec’s OpenStorage API and partner program support that effort and further the customer advantages of Data Domain enterprise protection storage systems in NetBackup environments.”

“Diligent’s ProtecTIER™, the industry’s most scalable de-duplication platform in terms of throughput and capacity, helps customers utilize disk storage as a backup and restore medium, without disrupting existing processes; dramatically reducing the capacity of disk required by 95% when compared with conventional solutions. Roughly 70% of ProtecTIER customers are users of Symantec’s NetBackup. Symantec’s new OpenStorage API will enhance customers’ utilization of ProtecTIER, integrating its intelligent disk-based services, and exploiting new replication and distribution services that are linked to NetBackup through the API,” said Neville Yates, CTO of Diligent Technologies.

“As a pioneer in disk-based data protection solutions, FalconStor looks forward to helping Symantec customers improve their backup efficiency on disk devices. With the Symantec OpenStorage API we will tighten our integration and enhance our disk based solutions - including VTL and Single Instance Repository - for even better management with NetBackup,“ said Bernie Wu, VP of Business Development at FalconStor. ”Our joint efforts in the future will make network based disk backup solutions easier and more intelligent, ultimately optimizing the use of storage and the network.”

“We are excited about the Symantec OpenStorage API because it facilitates the combination of strengths of NetBackup’s disk-based backup capabilities with COPAN’s Enhanced MAID platform to provide a truly unique solution to customers’ data protection problems,” said Roger Archibald, Sr. Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at COPAN Systems. “With a scalability of up to 448 TB in a single footprint, five times the reliability of standard SATA arrays, and seventy-five percent power and cooling savings, COPAN’s enhanced MAID platform combined with Symantec’s NetBackup will give customers an unprecedented total cost of ownership savings.”

“NetApp helps data-intensive customers solve some of their most critical IT and business challenges in order to maximize their return on investment,” said Patrick Rogers, vice president of Products and Partners at Network Appliance. “Symantec has always been a strong partner in delivering state-of-the-art solutions for advanced, disk-based data protection for customers. The new Symantec OpenStorage Partner Program is a vital part of our partnership because it will allow us to tightly integrate our storage solutions with NetBackup on behalf of our joint customers.”

“Quantum is committed to helping its customers build backup strategies that combine the best use of disk and tape with emerging technologies such as de-duplication and replication, to give them the most value within their data protection environment,” said Shane Jackson, director of Enterprise Product Marketing for Quantum. “As a leading global specialist in backup, recovery and archive, we look forward to working with Symantec to enable tighter integration of Quantum’s disk-based systems and virtual tape libraries with NetBackup through the OpenStorage API.”

“SEPATON brings industry leadership to disk-based data protection solutions, first through the most scalable, highest performing platform, and then through its unique ContentAware™ architecture and applications,” said Linda Mentzer, vice president of marketing for SEPATON, Inc. “Corporate data centers struggle to keep pace with increasingly complex backup, restore, and retention requirements, and SEPATON is poised to help solve these problems with products such as the S2100®-ES2 VTL and DeltaStor™ de-duplication. These solutions on a VTL platform enable customers to go “beyond backup” today, and with the advent of the new OpenStorage API, those same customers are poised for further enhancements and enriched features on the same platform.”

“Sun has long been a proponent of open standards and initiatives that enable customers to reduce cost and complexity while maximizing the value of their data,“ said Douglas Murray, executive director, Global Alliances, Sun Microsystems, Inc. ”Closer integration between backup devices and the corresponding software will help drive higher utilization rates and simplify backup and recovery.”

Contact Information

Brian Modena

Symantec Corp.

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