Symantec to offer backup software

Symantec announced new backup and recovery software aimed at consumers Monday called Norton Save & Restore.

More home users are creating and storing increasing amounts of digital content such as photos and music. In order to protect the content against malware and hardware and software outages, consumers who may have never previously considered backing up their computers are looking for technology options.

Symantec designed the Norton Save & Restore software, due to ship in late March, to be easy to install and set up, with a focus on automating many features, according to a press release. The product includes predefined backups of common folders and file types. Users can choose how backups take place whether prearranged ahead of time, on-demand, or event-driven as well as being able to encrypt and password-protect their backup files. Consumers also have the option to use Symantec's Norton Ghost disk imaging software to create an exact image of their entire hard drive without having to reboot their computers.

The estimated retail price for Norton Save & Restore is US$69.99. The software can be preordered from http://www.symantecstore.com/ and, in late March, will also be available in retail stores.

Symantec made two other announcements Monday.

The company said it will start to ship a new range of its Gateway Security appliances for small to midsize businesses (SMBs). Turning to its enterprise customers, Symantec launched its Intelligent Archiving Partner program, an initiative with third-party firms designed to give corporations more detailed information about the content and context of what's in their data stores.

Through the program, customers will be able to integrate Symantec's Enterprise Vault archiving software with ECM (enterprise content management) and records management products from an initial four firms -- Hummingbird, Interwoven, MDY and Stellent. Symantec's aim is to eventually partner with all the leading ECM vendors, the release stated.