The Vertices and VaultLedger platforms from B&L provide storage administrators with a means to manage and track the movement of storage media (especially tape cartridges and/or cases) for their organization. Vertices provides a means to manage the movement of media on the basis of administrator defined policies; while the VaultLedger offering provides strictly calendar-based movement tracking. These products provide only management for existing media; they do not--in and of themselves--provide actual data backup capabilities.

Vertices is a Windows-based, modular offering with several software components that can be added depending on the needs of the organization. The Vertices Core component provides the base inventory and vault management features of the platform. Within the Core module, administrators can define media movement schemes--called "paths"--depending on such metrics as the media's contents, time frame the data was backed up (daily, EOM, end of year, etc.), and the type of backup (full, incremental). Vertices supports the management of multiple storage locations (vaults) for the actual media, and administrators can specify how long the media should be retained at an offsite location, including exceptions for items such as end-of-month or end-of-year processes. Tapes can be designated for storage in boxes, by slot numbers, or by serial numbers; and once the paths have been defined, Vertices will automatically provide movement notifications.

In addition to the core services, multiple modules can be added to the Vertices platform to enhance functionality:

- Vertices Automation Module: provides integration with existing tape backup platforms, allowing for the automatic insertion of media information into the Vertices DB from the backup application. Backup applications noted by the vendor as supported include NetBackup/Backup Exec, NetWorker, NetVault, Backup Express, OpenView Data Protector / Omniback II, and BrightStor ARCserve.

- Vertices Legacy Logger Module: Allows customers to import information into Vertices from legacy backup tape management systems, such as BL/LIB / CA-1.

- Vertices Bar Code Scanning Module

- Vertices LabelWriter Module: Allows for the printing of tape labels with up to 15 customizable fields.

VaultLedger provides basic, calendar-based tape management and movement capabilities for up to two media storage vaults (i.e., onsite and offsite). VaultLedger is a Web-based platform (Windows .NET Framework) that can be accessed on remote machines via the Internet Explorer (6+) Web browser. Key differences in the VaultLedger offering are the lack of policy-based data movement (media movement must be defined purely by calendar days) and lack of automated input integration with backup applications. Bar code scanning is supported in VaultLedger.

VaultLedger is now available as an onsite deployment, and as "VaultLedger OnDemand," a vendor hosted offering featuring SSL protected communications to a data center sporting redundant network connections and firewalls, and load-balanced IDS.

VaultLedger and Vertices are available now. Vertices is offered in a Small Business Edition with pricing starting at $10,900 and an Enterprise Edition with pricing starting at $22,200.

Contact B&L Associates for further information.