Symantec has released Backup Exec System Recovery 2010, a data and system backup and recovery offering for small businesses. The new offering automates the backup process of an entire system or individual files and folders without disrupting user productivity, and enables restores to the same or dissimilar hardware, virtual machines or remote locations.

According to Symantec, the new offering includes granular recovery option, which allows small businesses to back up an entire file server, desktop, laptop, virtual server or critical application server, such as Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft SharePoint, and then restore granular items such as individual Exchange emails, SharePoint documents or individual files in minutes.

In addition, the company has also added support for virtual environments, including VMware vSphere 4.0, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, and Citrix XenServer 5.x in its new offering. It ensures that the more technical small businesses that integrate virtualisation into their IT environments can convert physical systems to virtual machines through Backup Exec System Recovery for disaster recovery or testing purposes, the company claims.

The new version of Backup Exec System Recovery allows organisations to manage their backup environment at local and remote locations from a single, centralized console. In addition, the Backup Exec System Recovery product line includes editions that backup and recover Microsoft Windows Servers, Microsoft Windows Small Business Servers as well as desktops and laptops, Symantec said.

Pat Hanavan, vice president of Symantec Information Management Group, said: “Today’s small businesses need the peace of mind that only comes with a cost-effective, reliable backup and recovery solution that will protect their information and systems to minimise downtime and avoid disaster. Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 provides small businesses with affordable protection so they can easily recover what they need, when they need it and to whatever physical or virtual environment they want.

The Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 supports Microsoft operating systems, including Windows 7, Microsoft Exchange 2010 and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2.