IBM to enter continuous data protection

IBM, the US computer company is developing software that will continuously back up information on the PCs of small and medium-sized firms. The company is adapting its corporate Tivoli product as part of its strategy to secure more business from firms with less than 1,000 staff.

Smaller firms often have inadequate protection against computer crashes or virus attacks.

The IBM Tivoli Continuous Data Protection for Files software will also be able to back up work on laptops from staff at remote locations. It will copy data within seconds of it being entered or changed on a PC or a more powerful server computer. This is a significant improvement on rival crash recovery products which only back up information several times a day.

According to Reuters, the software will be unveiled on Friday and will go on sale on September 16. It will cost $35 (£19.41) per laptop or desktop PC and $995 per server processor.

Dianne Macadam, an industry analyst at US-based DataMobility Group said: “The enterprise market is not seeing the high growth rate that we are seeing in the small and medium-sized market”.

Ron Riffe, IBM’s director of storage software strategy said: “Small and medium-sized businesses are contending with a ‘data avalanche’, vulnerable to computer viruses or crashes”.