SWsoft and Acronis Announce Server Virtualization and Storage Management Partnership to Build Complete Server Data Life-Cycle Management Solution

Solution Shortens Provisioning of New Physical and Virtual Servers from Days to Minutes

September 28, 2004, South San Francisco, CA and Herndon, VA — SWsoft, the established leader in hosting automation and server virtualization software, announced a joint strategic partnership with Acronis, Inc., the technological leader in storage and systems management software, to jointly develop and market Virtuozzo™ and Acronis True Image Server 8.0™ solutions for enterprises and hosting providers.

Through the comprehensive joint development, sales and marketing agreement, Acronis True Image Server and Acronis True Image Enterprise Server disk imaging, system backup and disaster recovery solutions will be integrated into SWsoft's Virtuozzo virtual private server (VPS) technology. Enterprises will be able to provision new physical servers instantaneously using Acronis' award-winning disk imaging solution on both Linux and Windows platforms. Once deployed, the new Virtuozzo-powered servers can be partitioned into virtual servers to help better utilize a customer's server investment.

"From our unique convergence of storage and virtualization technologies, IT managers will be able to deploy, backup and utilize new servers much more quickly and efficiently, further driving down the cost of datacenter operations," said Acronis CEO Max Tsypliaev. "After reviewing other server virtualization solutions on the market, we determined that SWsoft's Virtuozzo technology is the most production-proven solution available."

"Combining real-time disk imaging and backup capabilities with server virtualization is a powerful value proposition for enterprise and hosting customers," said Serg Bell, CEO, SWsoft. "Server virtualization is the enabling technology for the dynamic datacenters of tomorrow, but without comprehensive tools, enterprises will not be able to fully realize its benefits. SWsoft's partnership with Acronis creates the best integrated, multi-platform solution with the most complete tools available. Both companies are committed to delivering solutions that help make the dynamic datacenter a reality."

"Acronis True Image Server's disk cloning and disaster recovery capabilities make it possible to do bare-metal restores literally in minutes," noted Stephen Lawton, marketing director for Acronis. "Using Acronis' Drive Snapshot technology, IT managers can deploy a server disk image or provision a server in minutes, not the hours or days it would take to build a server disk from scratch, even if you had a file-based backup as a starting point."

Virtuozzo — Providing Utility Computing, Server Consolidation and More

Virtuozzo™ is a robust automation and virtualization solution that has been developed and proven over the past 5 years by SWsoft. Virtuozzo™ brings over 40 years of proven mainframe concepts to x86 commodity hardware including:

• Dynamic Real-time Partitioning — Ability to partition a physical server into multiple (up to hundreds) Virtual Private Servers (VPS) with full dedicated server functionality and change allocations in real-time.
• Resource Management — The ability to control, monitor, account, report and manage CPU, Memory, Disk, Network I/O and many other System Resources (over 25+ total) based on predetermined barriers, limits, guarantees or shares for each VPS.
• Virtualization — Move a VPS between physical servers transparently with near-zero downtime.
• Mass Management — Hundreds of VPSs on a server can be managed as easily as a single server and many physical servers can be managed centrally through the VZMC (Virtuozzo Management Console).

Virtuozzo 2.6 for Linux is now available and Virtuozzo 2.6 for Windows Beta will be available for testing in the fall of 2004.

Acronis True Image — Award-Winning Disk Imaging and Disaster Recovery Solution

Acronis True Image Server provides real-time server backup and bare-metal restore for Linux servers. Recognized by PC Magazine, Cnet and Zdnet as Editor's Choice for disk backup and recovery, key features include:

• Disaster Recovery — Real-time Linux and Windows server disk backup;
• Fastest Return-on-Investment — Restore any Linux or Windows server in minutes rather than hours or days;
• Systems and Storage Management — Incremental and scheduled backup.

Acronis True Image Server 8.0 for Linux and Windows platforms currently is being shipped. Acronis True Image Server 8.0 for Linux and Windows Enterprises is expected to be released for beta testing in early October 2004.

Virtuozzo & Acronis True Image Server 8.0 Promotion

The new integration of Acronis True Image Server and SWsoft's Virtuozzo unites leading storage management and server virtualization solutions. Act now to receive a 10 percent discount through October 31, 2004 on the award-winning Acronis True Image Server or Acronis True Image Enterprise Server 8.0 solutions. Visit www.sw-soft.com or www.acronis.com for more details.