Computer Associates ARCserve offers complete cross-platform backup for your network environment. With clients for almost every system and agents for a range of database and proprietary data formats, ARCserve can protect all of your enterprise data. In addition, the software includes one of the best database backup agents available. As another plus, CA provides IPX protocol support, instead of the default TCP/IP, for sites that still need it.

If ARCserve falls short anywhere, it's in the remote-access arena: The product should be able to perform user-initiated restores from remote clients, as well as from built-in push-agent technology.

The user interface is easy to use and is similar in all ARCserve products, though managing other ARCserve hosts from different NOS platforms is impossible. Although CA's Unix product trails its NetWare and Windows NT products in terms of options, it does offer a competitive price advantage over IBM Corp.'s and Legato Systems' Unix products: It's priced at about one-half to one-third the cost.

CA also has integrated its backup software with its antivirus product on both NetWare and Windows NT. This allows for real-time scanning for viruses, without a performance hit during backups. ARCserve also supports HSM.

ARCserve 6.1 for NetWare, $395 to $1,895; ARCserve/Open for Unix, $695 to $1,995; ARCserve 6.5 for NT, $149 to $1,395,
Computer Associates International,
(516) 342-5224.
www.cai.com/cheyenne