Some customers who use Veritas Software’s replication software backed into itthey picked it because they were already using the company’s storage-management applications. While they say the products work well together, some wish its data replication software were better tuned for long-distance networks.
CNF, a freight-shipping and logistics company, was already running Volume Manager on many of its servers when it identified a need to replicate data from its Portland, Ore., data center to a second site in Scranton, Pa. Because of that, Volume Replicator “was the easy solution to implement,” says Aaron Huslage, a senior system administrator. “And it works pretty well.”
But Volume Replicator was originally designed to operate on a local network. As a result it lacks some features for sending data across wide area networks, such as data compression. Doug Hughes, senior Unix administrator at telecommunications carrier Global Crossing, says that adding compression “would be nice, because it would cut down on the bandwidth.” A Veritas spokeswoman says compression isn’t part of Volume Replicator because the feature could potentially interfere with the operation of a customer’s primary systems.
Hughes, however, adds that while Volume Replicator “is solid at the core,” he’s encountered a few quirks that required Veritas’ help to resolve. On one occasion, he says, when a disk drive failed on the primary Volume Replicator server, the software unexpectedly shut down all the replication groups and crashed an Oracle database. The issue is documented, Hughes says, “but not very clearly.” (Veritas says this problem is uncommon and recommends that customers conduct regular tests of their setups.)
Meanwhile, Veritas is in the midst of being acquired by Symantec, an antivirus and security software vendor, for $13.5 billion, a deal expected to close by the middle of 2005. Some view the pending merger with a shrug. “I don’t know that it will mean anything for me,” says Mike Haske, vice president of technology at BankAnnapolis, which uses Veritas’ Replication Exec at its five branches. “I just hope they don’t decide to drop any products.”
Others are upbeat about the takeover. “Symantec and Veritas have the same corporate culture,” says Joe Wagner, chief technology officer at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, Calif. “Their overall approach to projects, and their understanding of our business, is very similar.”
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Veritas operating results*
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* Fiscal year ends Dec. 31
Source: Company reports
Other Financials**
Total assets $5.85B
Stockholders’ equity $3.92B
Cash and equivalents $700.11M
Short-term investments $1.85B
Long-term debt $900.63M
Shares outstanding 430.99M
Market value, 3/24 $9.72B
**As of Dec. 31, 2004, except as noted