• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • IBM Buys FilesX for Continuous Data Protection Software

    April 14, 2008 Timothy Prickett Morgan

    Seeking to bolster its position in the continuous data protection (CDP) market, IBM last week acquired FileX, company located in Newton, Massachusetts, that was founded in 2000 by Jacob Herbst, who IBM midrange shops will remember as the cofounder of IIS, a maker of IBM-compatible SNA communications gear from back in the dawn of time.

    FileX is one of the myriad companies out there trying to make operating systems, their applications, and their data more resilient without having to go full-tilt-boogie with high availability system clustering. For a lot of customers, particularly small and midrange shops, a CDP solution is more appropriate and affordable even if it does have some downtime associated with it. More importantly, CDP solutions work at the block level, capturing data as it changes once a snapshot of the systems being protected is taken, which makes it a very efficient form of data replication. What makes FileX unique among the CDP players in the Windows market–and why IBM will almost certainly deploy its newly acquired Xpress Restore CDP software on Linux, i-i5/OS, and AIX platforms as well as on the Windows it already supports–is that its distributed architecture of branch, hub, and restore networks for protecting a mix of remote and data center machinery means that customers can consolidate backups and restores while at the same time eliminating the backup windows, where applications have to be quiesced, that plague IT operations.

    Like many software companies that IBM and others have been buying lately, FileX has a development lab located in Israel, in Haifa, to be precise. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed because FileX is a privately held and relatively small (at least compared to IBM) company. The FileX CDP products are going to be folded into IBM’s Tivoli systems management unit, and IBM said in a statement that it intended for the FileX products to be melded into its Tivoli Storage Manager family of storage and archiving products. The software will complement IBM’s existing Tivoli Continuous Data Protection for Files product, which also only supports Windows desktop and server platforms. It seems very unlikely that IBM will not eventually offer some kind of CDP product for AIX, Linux, and i platforms, despite the numerous partners it has offering high availability, replication, and CDP products for these platforms. And the Integrated File System on OS/400, i5/OS, and i machines as well as any Samba file system running on AIX and Linux can probably already be backed up using either the existing Tivoli or FileX products, regardless of what the spec sheets say have been tested and certified.

    RELATED STORIES

    IBM Gets Clustered Storage and EMC Founder with XIV Buy

    BakBone Adds CDP to NetVault

    Vaulting Over Backups: The Pros, Cons

    SteelEye Delivers CDP for Windows Servers

    IBM Buys HA and Data Replication Software Maker DataMirror

    Vision Begins Product Transition with iTera HA 5.0

    Smaller Companies are Preparing for Disaster Too, Study Shows



                         Post this story to del.icio.us
                   Post this story to Digg
        Post this story to Slashdot

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags: Tags: mtfh_rc, Volume 17, Number 15 -- April 14, 2008

    Sponsored by
    ARCAD Software

    Embrace VS Code for IBM i Development

    The IBM i development landscape is evolving with modern tools that enhance efficiency and collaboration. Ready to make the move to VS Code for IBM i?

    Join us for this webinar where we’ll showcase how VS Code can serve as a powerful editor for native IBM i code and explore the essential extensions that make it possible.

    In this session, you’ll discover:

    • How ARCAD’s integration with VS Code provides deep metadata insights, allowing developers to assess the impact of their changes upfront.
    • The role of Git in enabling seamless collaboration between developers using tools like SEU, RDi, and VS Code.
    • Powerful extensions for code quality, security, impact analysis, smart build, and automated RPG conversion to Free Form.
    • How non-IBM i developers can now contribute to IBM i projects without prior knowledge of its specifics, while ensuring full control over their changes.

    The future of IBM i development is here. Let ARCAD be your guide!

    Watch Now

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Profound Ships New Web-Based DB2/400 Editor i-Based SCS500 Internet Phone System Now Available

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

TFH Volume: 17 Issue: 15

This Issue Sponsored By

    Table of Contents

    • The 64-Core Power6-Based Power 595 Starts to Roll in May
    • And Then There Was One: The New and Improved Power 570
    • Sundry Power Systems Announcements
    • As I See It: Goldilocks and the Zen of IT
    • Albert Simon Barsa, Jr., 1953-2008
    • Reader Feedback on Goodbye, AS/400, Old Friend
    • New Customer Sales Pump Up Lawson Software’s Q3
    • ACOM Wants to Add 200 Resellers in Three Years
    • IBM Buys FilesX for Continuous Data Protection Software
    • Windows and Linux Get a Skinny Blade Server from IBM

    Content archive

    • The Four Hundred
    • Four Hundred Stuff
    • Four Hundred Guru

    Recent Posts

    • Liam Allan Shares What’s Coming Next With Code For IBM i
    • From Stable To Scalable: Visual LANSA 16 Powers IBM i Growth – Launching July 8
    • VS Code Will Be The Heart Of The Modern IBM i Platform
    • The AS/400: A 37-Year-Old Dog That Loves To Learn New Tricks
    • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 25
    • Meet The Next Gen Of IBMers Helping To Build IBM i
    • Looks Like IBM Is Building A Linux-Like PASE For IBM i After All
    • Will Independent IBM i Clouds Survive PowerVS?
    • Now, IBM Is Jacking Up Hardware Maintenance Prices
    • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 24

    Subscribe

    To get news from IT Jungle sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter.

    Pages

    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Contributors
    • Four Hundred Monitor
    • IBM i PTF Guide
    • Media Kit
    • Subscribe

    Search

    Copyright © 2025 IT Jungle