The update will allow DPM to backup Microsoft Exchange, SQL, SharePoint and system state and bare metal recovery data. It will also extend the maximum frequency of snapshots from once an hour to once every fifteen minutes, and add disk-to-disk-to-tape support.
The integration with Microsoft’s Exchange and SQL applications will be the most important new feature of the software.
Microsoft will not say how many copies it has sold of the current version of DPM 2006, which it launched in October last year. But its senior technical product manager Jason Buffington said: It didn’t hit a huge percentage of Windows, but it did get us into the space.
The version now being beta tested will meet the needs of the vast majority of customers. It will be called either DPM 2007 or DPM 2008, depending on whether it ships before or after the end of Microsoft’s current fiscal year, on 27 September 2007.