Double-Take® Software Launches Customer-Centered Technology Tour

Event will offer a unique opportunity for a one on one with industry experts from Microsoft and Double-Take Software

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Southborough, Mass. - July 23, 2008 - Double-Take® Software (NASDAQ: DBTK) will kick off the Double-Take Software Technology Tour 2008 on Wednesday, July 30th at the Microsoft Technology Center in New York City. This event will bring together customers and leading industry experts from Microsoft and Double-Take Software to discuss both trends and best practices in the industry.

Demonstrations on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V virtualization, Double-Take® Full Server Failover, and TimeData® for Microsoft Exchange Server will be held throughout the day. Attendees will benefit from panel discussions on the hottest industry trends as well as have exclusive opportunities to discuss Double-Take Software solutions with senior product management, industry experts, and other Double-Take Software customers.

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We Don’t Just Rock in Software!

Last week Double-Take was selected as one of the Best Places to Work in Indiana by the Indiana Business Chamber. To those of us who work here, this isn’t shocking news, but because we’re geeks - we like affirmation and confirmation - so we’re happy and proud to tell everyone about it.

The selection is a two-part process that includes a company assessment and an employee satisfaction survey. The Chamber and employees assess Leadership and Planning, Corporate Culture, Communication, Role Satisfaction, Work Environment, Relationships with Supervisors, Training and Overall Satisfaction. It’s a comprehensive process, for sure.

Forthcoming on our website is a handful of video interviews with employees that we filmed a few months ago. We asked them what it was REALLY like to work at Double-Take (no b.s. allowed!) - and the answers were consistent (and some were really hilarious). People liked the fact that we work with incredibly smart people, that we have strong, accessible leadership, we’re all learning at the speed of light and using what we know to create something really cool and useful to the world. (If I had a nickle for everyone around here getting an advanced degree, I’d buy you a nice dinner.)

Lots of people also said they like the free donuts and the fact that our company band, ClusterFunk, (which includes our CEO on bass) plays to packed houses and seriously rocks. We work really hard - and we have a lot of fun too. Our Halloween trick-or-treating open house is a sight to behold, we go to Carb Day at the Indy Motor Speedway, sponsor a team of runners for an annual charity event, hold chili cook-offs, bike to work together and celebrate the winter holidays with a throw-down party somewhere fun.

Sure, evenings and weekends you’ll find us checking our BlackBerrys, but we might be playing golf or guitar hero together or just hanging out at the local spot across the street from the office. We’re from more than ten different countries and we speak more than twelve languages. Among other things, we’re Iron Men, custom-bike builders, community volunteers, homebrewers, extreme marathoners, gamers, artists, die-hard race fans, vegetarians, musicians, Yoga teachers, devoted parents, champion weight-lifters, DJs, competitive cyclists and world-travelers. If you visit us, I promise there will be no shortage of smart, interesting and passionate people to talk to.

So, if you’re looking for a great place to work and a great bunch of people to work and hang out with, check out our website or give us a call.

http://www.doubletake.com/company/join-us/default.aspx

Storage Optimization for Legal Documents - ILTA 2008

I have had the opportunity over the years to help implement data protection solutions for some of the nations top law firms and you would be surprised how similar the disaster recover requirements are for the legal industry. Other than the typical mission critical messaging applications like Exchange and Blackberry the legal industry is heavily reliant on access to documents and information. Solutions provided by companies like Lexis Nexis, the leading global provider of business information solutions to professionals in law firms, are business critical as they provide the online ability for legal research among other services. Also, just as important to a legal firm operations are the volumes of contracts and or legal documents that are stored which makes both easy decisions for a high availability solution as well as the need for file storage optimization.

The legal industry adheres to some pretty rigorous document retention policies where a certain number of files need to remain online for 90 days before they can be archived to a near line solution, which may or may not be at a remote data center. I have also seen other legal firms implement a 2 month - 2 year policy where documents remain online to the local facility for 2 months then can be online at a remote facility for 2 years before they can be archived offsite for sometimes periods upwards of 7 years. Now you can imagine the amount of storage that would be required for any sized law firm to retain even just two months of documents or image tape and storage cost to archive for 7 years. I have seen these storage requirements upwards of several terabytes which really require a way to optimize storage for only the documents needed based on defined retention periods. Retention periods should be able to be defined at least the following parameters:

• Last Access Date
• Size of file
• Storage threshold of available storage

These three primary settings for storage optimization are critical to keep the storage requirements to only what is needed and easily manageable for the IT manager. Once these archive parameters are set then it is nice to have a scheduled process or even better automatic process to help manage the storage requirements by identifying the defined rules and then executing that process so you don’t have to manually.

A good resource for technical information for the legal industry is The International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) is a collegial group of members who all communicate.

This year is the 31^st annual Educational Conference of the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) and is being held in Grapevine, Texas August 25-28^th. Due to its strong relationship with ILTA members, Double-Take Software immediately tops the list for data protection solutions. Double-Take Software will be attending the show again this year in booth #915 and demonstrating the latest in high availability products for mission critical legal applications.

YouTube Video: How Borgata Uses Double-Take for Cost-Effective Disaster Recovery

We have several new videos showcasing our solutions and products. One great new video is the Borgata Hotel Resort & Casino. View this video to better understand how Borgata is able to create cost-effective disaster recovery architectures, provide 24×7 application availability, and follow their daily contingency plan.

All of our videos can be found on the Double-Take website here or on the DBTK group on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/group/dbtk

Tracking Hurricane Bertha and Planning for Disasters

I was in Hopkins Belize, a couple of weeks ago on vacation and I kept getting notified by my relatives about the hurricanes and tropical depressions that where either in the area or heading our way. When I made the reservations I knew it would be close but probably still too early for Hurricanes but didn’t realize that it would be the rainy season in Central America. In early June there was 27 inches of rain in the town, just one mile from where we were staying, which had to be evacuated by boat because almost three feet of water covered all the roads. We had to cross several make-shift crossings along the way because huge trees had knocked out key bridges between towns. Hearing the stories from the local residents made me realize that we are indeed in the hurricane season for the Americas and what seems to be a very active one at that. Hurricane Bertha appears to be weakening but can be tracked as well as other storms at NOAA http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

Preparing for Hurricanes isn’t much different that preparing for any other weather related event. If you don’t have an evacuation bag already prepared it may be a good idea to get one started if you live near coasts typically affected by tropical storms. However, Bertha appears to have a more northern pattern that would push it up as far north as some coastal New England states and out toward Bermuda. I know Double-Take Software has several customers in the island of Bermuda and many have their assets protected on the island locally as well as far off as the states and even to the UK. We will continue to track Hurricane Bertha as well as other storms and hope this one continues to weaken so the business continuity plans of Bermuda do not need to be initiated.

Even if you don’t live in an area that may be affected by hurricanes it is a great idea for business continuity managers to keep a backpack of supplies with your business continuity plan in the event of any disasters. A typical evacuation bag includes some of the following:

- Water – most important of all items

- Food, snacks, granola bars, nuts

- Flashlight w/ batteries

- Battery operated or better yet crank radio for communication

- Two-way radio for communication between employees or family members (don’t rely on the cell phone towers being available)

- Medicine and or first aid

- Rain Gear, spare dry cloths

If you are a Double-Take customer that may already be under way with this planning please share with others what you or your company is doing to help prepare for this season. I posted this same request to our friends on the Business Continuity Exchange and received quite a few good responses from other business continuity planners who have had to implement their BCP plans because of a hurricane and or provided tips and resources for hurricane planning. Here are there responses:

• We did have a rep from the local Red Cross come to one of our quarterly larger-scale Business Continuity Planning meetings to talk with us about flood safety and preparedness, and it was a very worthwhile program.  I’d recommend to anyone to call the local Red Cross and see if they offer educational programs like that in your area.
• Have a family plan as to where to meet and how to contact everyone in your family. Also have a contact person that is out of state in case you need to use that person to communicate through.
• Important papers in a water proof container (i.e. insurance policies, medical records, logs/inventory of your valuable possessions that you cannot take with you at the last minute - digital photos of property).
• Have some cash spread among members of your family in case ATM’s are off line.
• Make sure that the vehicles that you may have to evacuate with are fully fueled (once power goes out some gas stations will not have generators to work the pumps).
• Have board/card games so that the kids can occupy themselves.
• Check on the elderly in your family/neighbors to see if they have enough for 72 hours to survive a storm until help arrives or if there is a special needs shelter in the area that they can be evacuated to.
• Make sure you have enough pet food and additional water for your pets. Know the location of your pet friendly shelters.
• Make sure your pets have ID tags and if possible have you pets ID chipped (about $35 per cat/dog)
• We have had to invoke our company BCP’s a number of times in the past for hurricanes and they get reviewed/updated annually, we also actively track tropical storms/hurricanes so we can invoke in good time when necessary. I don’t know how many of our people that are at risk of a hurricane have family plans though.
• Whilst there are lots of sites with good info on preparing for hurricanes, I thought the Florida emergency mgmt site was the most accessible site I’ve come across for family/home planning http://www.floridadisaster.org/

It seems like it came up fast this year but it is definitely Hurricane season and time to update those plans to keep your employees as well as your family safe.

Double-Take Software Shares Virtualization Stage at Microsoft World Partner Conference

This week at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston Texas, Double-Take Software had the opportunity to share the virtualization stage to discuss their Hyper-V product plans. Bob Roudebush, Director of Solution Engineering was invited to present with Dai Vu Microsoft Director, Virtualization Products/Solutions during the breakout session “Microsoft Virtualization Solutions: Making It Real.” The main topic of the session was to help share information with other partners how to better leverage Microsoft Virtualization solutions and making that case to customers why Microsoft virtualization solutions are better solution. Attendance was strong during the presentations as the recent Hyper-V announcements have certainly received a fair share of press activity and the combination of Double-Take Software with Microsoft Virtualization products provide a great low cost solution.

Double-Take puts out a semi-monthly email newsletter to customers & prospects called “UpTimes” which typical content includes facts about new product features, new releases, upcoming webinars, etc. In the 6/16 “UpTimes” edition featured the Hyper-V announcement and 50% of all ‘click-through’ were directed toward the Hyper-V article. The interest and thirst for more on data protection and virtualization is certainly real and the recent announcements as well close relationship between Microsoft and Double-Take Software will only continue to help feed those requests.

If you would like to receive the Uptimes newsletter, a quarterly guide to the best of Double-Take Software happenings including: data protection tips and tricks, product news, upcoming events, and education please click here. http://forms.doubletakesoftware.com/asbs/servlet/SS?F=2784828

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Back to Basics: Double-Take for Data Replication, Failover and an Easy Recovery Process

There are so many features to our core product, Double-Take, that it’s important to get back to the basics every now and then. Here are a few of the basic features included in Double-Take. 

- Asynchronous, Byte-level, Continuous Replication: Asynchronous replication ensures that the replication process does not impact production applications, as can be the case with synchronous replication. Double-Take captures the data for processing but does not keep it from updating the local disk, whereas with synchronous replication the local disk is not updated until after the replicated data has been written/committed to the target disk and the corresponding acknowledgement has been sent back to the production server. This results in a performance decrease on the production application because it is waiting for confirmation that the replication has occurred.

- Many-to-One Failover: Double-Take can be configured such that a single target server is used for numerous source servers. This can reduce the total cost of ownership as it is not necessary to have a one-to-one exact duplicate of the hardware for replication purposes, as is the case with many other replication solutions. This also helps to facilitate centralized backup since many local or remote servers can be backed up from a single server, further lowering costs by reducing the number of backup licenses needed.

- Automated Failover: Whether running MSCS or not, Double-Take can provide high-availability failover of servers to ensure users remain online in case of a failure. While MSCS has distance limitations, Double-Take does not, thereby providing failover protection during local AND regional failures. This availability allows users and customers to quickly have access to their systems and data. For customer-facing systems, it ensures that customer satisfaction remains high and sales are not impacted.

- Intelligent Compression: Double-Take is the only host-based replication solution that provides multilevel intelligent compression. Double-Take provides four options for data compression that allows custom configuration to suit each customer’s individual requirements. These settings can be individually configured for each replication set defined within Double-Take, allowing even further customization by server, data, and/or network.

 

- Failback/Restore: Should a failure occur, Double-Take can facilitate data restoration from the target back to the original source or to an alternate location. Through the Double-Take UI, users can easily restore data from the replicated disk back to the production disk once the failure is corrected. This greatly reduces the time to recover and restore, as it is not necessary to go offsite for tapes and then restore one at a time. This also ensures that you recover from the time the failure occurred, not from when the last backup was taken, which can result in a day or more of lost data and productivity. Unlike other solutions that make the users remember which files came from what location, the Double-Take restore process automatically reverses the direction of your original replication job.

 For a full list of features, please download the Double-Take 5.0 Feature Guide. 

 

 How Double-Take Works:

How DT Works

Double-Take Software Earns Global Recognition Through Various Awards

Double-Take Software’s Performance, Customer Service and Products Earn Global Recognition

Today, Double-Take Software announced its standing for four prestigious awards based on technology advancement, customer service, and company performance. As a finalist for the American Business Awards, U.K. Storage Awards, and MITX Awards, and ranked 8th on the Boston Globe’s “Globe 100″ list, Double-Take Software competed with hundreds of products and companies for coveted industry recognition in the U.S. and U.K.

The Boston Globe’s “Globe 100″ ranked Double-Take Software as one of the top ten performing Massachusetts businesses with publicly traded stock. Rankings were based on a composite score derived from financial data for the four quarters ending December 31, 2007.

Double-Take Software was also distinguished by the American Business Awards as a finalist in the “Best Customer Support Organization” category out of more than 2,600 entries from companies of all sizes in virtually every industry by the only national, all-encompassing awards program to honor great performances in business.

Earlier this month, Double-Take 5.0 was selected as a finalist in the U.K.’s Storage Magazine Storage Awards (The Storries V) for “Best Value for Money” and “Storage Replication of the Year” categories. Winners are selected by Storage Magazine readers- the U.K.’s number one IT storage magazine - with over 6,000 readers casting in excess of 25,000 votes for their favorite companies/technologies.

The 5h Annual MITX Technology Awards also named Double-Take® 5.0 from Double-Take Software a finalist in the “Data Protection” category for the industry’s first continuous full-server protection and recovery technology. Each year, the MITX Forum & Technology Awards recognize innovative technologies developed in the New England area, as well as the individuals and organizations responsible for driving these advancements.

“As a leading infrastructure software company for over 15,000 customers of all sizes, Double-Take Software’s products and solutions are backed by our superior customer service employees, which are as critical to our company’s growth and success as our product sales,” said Dean Goodermote, chief executive officer and chairman of the board, Double-Take Software. “We are proud to be recognized by these awards. Our employee dedication to serving our customers with quality, affordable products has allowed us the success we share today.”

For more information about Double-Take Software, please visit: www.doubletake.com.

64-bit and Double-Take

I’ve fielded a lot of questions from clients about what Double-Take Software can do on x64 systems.  For the record, nearly all of our solutions are supported on 64-bit systems, both from AMD and Intel. We also have limited support for Itanium, though there is a different licensing structure for that, and not all products are supported; so check with your Double-Take Rep on that one.

As for the x64 architectures, Double-Take can replicate, fail over and even use the DTAM, FFO and SRO wizards between any two x64 machines.  We also have a limited ability to mix and match with x86 servers.  For obvious reasons, the system-state tools (FFO, SRO) won’t allow for this, but Double-Take can replicate data from an x86 server to an x64 server and vice-versa.

Does this mean you can use non-system-state failover between x86 and x64?  That depends on the application in question.  File servers, for example, can fail over from one to the other, though the DTAM wizard would not be used in that case.  I also haven’t heard of SQL servers having an issue in making the jump from one to the other.(Thanks to fellow blogger Nick S for that info)  Many other applications will fall on either side of the equation, check with your application vendor to see if the data from x86 can be mounted/used on x64 or vice-versa.

Exchange is - as usual - a notable exception to that rule.  Since Exchange 2000/2003 won’t run on x64, and 2007 can’t run on x86 (in production), and the database formats are not clearly compatible, this would be one sure case where you would not want to try to replicate between the two with Double-Take.  However, we can protect each of those versions to another server running the same version.  So, use Double-Take to protect the old server before and during the migration, and to protect the new systems during and afterward, just don’t try to use us to perform an Exchange migration.

 

 

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