Acronis to snap up disk image deployment market

By SMBWorld Asia Editors | Nov 16, 2011

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Acronis, a provider of disaster recovery and data protection solutions for physical, virtual and cloud environments, has launched the Acronis Snap Deploy 4, the latest version of the company's automated solution for deployment of data and systems to multiple PCs, virtual machines and servers.

Acronis Snap Deploy 4 assists IT administrators and lab managers within organizations, such as educational institutions and training departments, to copy exact images of data and systems (including the operating system, applications and files) and move it from one device to another.

Organizations operate a mix of PCs, servers and operating systems, which drives up the cost of management, including the cost of deployment. Acronis Snap Deploy 4 enables IT departments to standardize and control their infrastructure by deploying a standard master image, and reduce costs and time by automating deployment.

Common business scenarios like the on-boarding of new employees or students, computer-based training exercises in lab or classroom environments and company mergers and acquisitions necessitate the deployment of a master image across new environments. In addition, a refresh of an organization’s hardware and applications, as well as server consolidation or datacenter relocation, can require an easy-to-use solution to transfer data.

The solution is based on Acronis’ patented disk imaging technology and takes a snapshot of an entire operating system, its applications and data, creating a master image that can be installed onto multiple machines. The centrally managed solution can be deployed for the benefit of new machines or to reimage an existing machine back to a master image.

“Deployment can be a repetitive and painful task for many organizations. Take for instance a university which must prepare the same environment across thousands of machines for the start of each semester. To undertake this through manual installation is extremely time consuming and can be error-prone. We’ve got thousands of customers worldwide using Acronis Snap Deploy – many of which have more than halved the time taken to carry out mass deployment,” explains Bill Taylor-Mountford, President, Asia Pacific at Acronis.

This latest version includes the ability to customize configuration settings on a per-machine basis, such as setting a unique IP address. Support for virtual machines has also been enhanced with the ability to deploy directly from VHD files.

Key features of Acronis Snap Deploy 4 include per-machine customization and hands-free mass deployment with centralized management and automation. Its Acronis Universal Deploy feature allows deployment to dissimilar hardware. The new version also offers flexible scheduling options.

Acronis Snap Deploy 4 is licensed per machine or can be purchased per deployment in batches. Per deployment licenses include the Acronis Universal Deploy add-on in the license price. Pricing starts at MSRP US$25 per workstation license and MSRP US$121 per server.