CA squares up to storage giant Veritas

Computer Associates gets four brands ready to rumble.

Computer Associates (CA) has finalised its plans to go head-to-head with storage giant Veritas.

Analysts say the move has come at the right time, with the right products.

Users alarmed by the company's boardroom problems will benefit from the competitive market.

CA will focus on four brands: BrightStor, eTrust, Jasmine and Unicenter.

The first storage product under the BrightStor brand will be BrightStor Enterprise Backup, which can deliver high-speed online backup at 1.56 terabytes an hour.

"Our plans will put a dent in [Veritas's] plans. Customers are looking for an alternative. We are moving aggressively into this market. Customers realise what they pay for, and a Mercedes is very expensive," said CA chief executive Sanjay Kumar.

CA is also extending its partnership with storage giant EMC.

"It [CA] has hit the right market and it has the right partners in place," said Rob Hailstone, director of system infrastructure and software research at IDC.

"It's not pretending to be cheaper here, it just wants to provide a higher-performance solution. The market has been built by Veritas and CA wants a larger slice of it."

Under its new security banner, eTrust, CA announced the first beta version of its web access control tool. It will include single sign-on authentication and authorisation. Initially it will support CA's Jasmine portal and IBM's Websphere.

Kumar hinted that portals were the possible future for CA's products, but made no new announcements based on Jasmine.

CA has unveiled version 3.0 of its systems management software, Unicenter.

Rather than buy a complete suite, users can buy individual modules to address enterprise management needs. Pricing will be in line with the new tiered approach, although exact costs have yet to be finalised.

CA shifted its software licensing to a monthly subscription-based model late last year.