Disaster Prevention and Recovery

Backup/Recovery/Archive Solution. In a 2005 IDC survey, 53 percent of respondents said that disaster recovery is their number-one priority. Neverfail Group has addressed this need for Windows environments with its Neverfail for Windows Product Suite, and our readers have chosen the solution as the winner of the Readers' Choice 2006 Best Backup/Recovery/Archive Solution. Neverfail provides data backup services; seamless, automatic failover capabilities when hardware, network infrastructure, and OS failures occur; and a simple process for switching back after system problems are resolved. The product suite includes disaster recovery solutions for Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint Portal Server, SQL Server, and Internet Information Services (IIS), as well as for antivirus, email security, backup, fax, and other auxiliary applications.

Enterprise Backup/Recovery/Archive Hardware. Taking the top prize for best Enterprise Backup/Recovery/Archive Hardware is the EMC Centera series of content addressed storage (CAS) devices. Centera models provide a simple, scalable, and secure disk-based solution for storing and protecting all types of static content, such as X rays, email, and electronic documents. Rather than accessing a data object by its file name at a physical location, a CAS device such as Centera uses a content address to store and retrieve the object. The Centera family of products includes a Governance Edition that helps enforce internal policies for records management, a Compliance Edition for ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, and a smaller-capacity version suitable for midsized businesses.

Continuous Data Protection (CDP) Solution. More companies are moving to continuous data protection (CDP) solutions to secure their data and critical business processes. This is the first year Windows IT Pro has had a subcategory for CDP solutions, and readers gave top honors to Double-Take, the CDP solution from Double-Take Software (formerly NSI Software). Double-Take's hardwareagnostic CDP solution provides real-time, byte-level data replication (either locally or to one or more remote storage sites) and support for point-in-time recovery, enabling businesses to quickly recover after a disaster or system outage. Double-Take is simple to set up and runs on all editions of Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 Server.

Desktop Backup/Recovery/Archive Solution. Our readers have named Winternals Administrator's Pak as their solution of choice for repairing systems and recovering lost data. Administrator's Pak is a set of 1/0 system repair, data recovery, and troubleshooting tools for Windows systems. Included in the bundle is ERD Commander 2005, which boots dead or dying systems directly from a CD-ROM into a Windows-like repair environment; the Remote Recover tool, which lets you repair an unbootable system over the network; and the FileRestore utility, which lets you quickly and easily recover files that have been lost or deleted from your computer. For those users who are a little less proactive, Winternals provides an emergencydownload version that grants temporary use of Administrator's Pak.

Enterprise Backup/Recovery/Archive Software. If your enterprise has ever been hit by server downtime, you know how disruptive and expensive it can be. With the Neverfail Group's Neverfail for Windows Product Suite, our readers' pick for Best Enterprise Backup/Recovery/Archive Software, companies can keep users connected to working applications whether failures occur in the OS, a hardware component, a software application, or somewhere on the network. The product suite provides highavailability, data-protection, and disaster-recovery solutions for almost every Microsoft technology platform, including Exchange Server, SharePoint Portal Server, SQL Server, and Internet Information Services (IIS). Neverfail is easy to implement and manage, allows both automated and manual switchover capabilities, and offers proactive monitoring of your entire server environment.

UPS. Power outages and power surges can have a devastating effect on a company's computer resources and data, which is why a UPS has become an essential part of every computing environment. This year, readers told us that they put their trust in Tripp Lite's SmartPro series of UPS systems to protect against downtime, damage, and data loss. SmartPro UPS Systems provide line-interactive battery backup for servers, data centers, VoIP/telecom systems, and internetworking equipment. Advanced Automatic Voltage Regulation constantly monitors incoming voltage and increases or decreases the voltage to supply consistent power without draining batteries, and PowerAlert management software can control all brands of UPS systems with one centralized management interface.