By way of introduction, my name is Brian Greene and I lead the product management team for Backup Exec. In late October, we posted an update about Backup Exec 2012 R2 and promised you more details as they became available. In the spirit of keeping an open dialog, I wanted to get back to you and share the latest information:
- Windows Server 2012 R2 support: Backup Exec 2012 R2 will include agent and media server support for Windows Server 2012 R2. This is a significant undertaking by our engineering team, but we are committed to delivering timely support. I know that many of you are asking for this support now, and we are doing everything we can to get to where you want us to be. I know many of you are frustrated and I apologize, please know that our #1 priority is to deliver timely platform support. We have put a structure in place to solve this issue so that we can return to being the first to offer support for new platforms. Please reference item 3 below for more details.
- Backup Exec 2012 R2 timing: We are targeting general availability (GA) between late in the 2nd quarter or early in the 3rd quarter of 2014 (calendar year). We have achieved our feature code complete milestone and are quickly approaching our Beta 1 milestone. Please reference item 4 below on how to sign up for the Beta. In addition, we will continue to provide updates to you via Connect.
- VMware vSphere 5.5 support: Backup Exec 2012 Service Pack 3 is now available for download and includes support for VMware vSphere 5.5. The release of this support, within 60 days of VMware’s GA, is an example of a new process we are implementing that allows us to leverage service pack releases to deliver more timely platform support to you. We will continue to look for opportunities that meet specific scope criteria to add platform support via regular service pack releases.
- Backup Exec 2012 R2 Beta registration: If you have already registered for the Beta, thank you! If you haven’t had a chance yet, I encourage you to register here. The Beta program is open to partners, existing Backup Exec customers and anyone that is interested in testing out the next release of Backup Exec. This program is a unique opportunity to see what you can expect in Backup Exec 2012 R2 and also provide our product team with invaluable feedback. We expect the Beta to become available for download in early 2014 (read the original post about the Beta here).
Thank you for your continued support of and loyalty to Backup Exec. We are committed to getting the product to where you want and expect it to be.