"We decided to change our minds," said Claude Lorenson, group product manager for storage at Microsoft. "This will enlarge Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 devices to be a hybrid and serve both block- and file-based data from the same device."

String Bean's core product, WinTarget Server, is an application that allows Windows-based servers to be backed up across a LAN to block-based storage arrays that normally use Fibre Channel connectivity. String Bean, a private company located in Montgomery Village, Md., had already incorporated Microsoft's Virtual Shadow Copy Services -- which allow for data snapshots -- and Multi-Path I/O technology into its product.

"So there's very good integration with our management stack," Lorenson said.

Microsoft has no plans to sell the WinTarget software as a stand-alone product, but plans to release it as an add-on to Windows Storage Server 2003 R2. "This is not shrink-wrap software we'll sell to the channel," he said.

Lorenson said the product will ship with Windows Server 2003 at midyear for an as-yet-undetermined price. Microsoft is also working on an upgrade for current owners of Windows 2003, but Lorenson said that would take longer. He did not know when it would be ready.