The KBX5000 R2.3 has many other interesting new features, but the one I want to point out is the ability to do nondestructive tests of disaster-recovery fail-over procedures while maintaining redundancy, which obviously saves time and encourages more frequent testing. "One of our customers has cut testing time from six hours to 30 minutes, and they are still protected during fail-over," Walsworth adds.

The new version of the KBX5000 should be available at the end of April, at a starting price of about US$120,000 for a basic setup with CDP and replication. Adding more features or choosing a clustered configuration will set you back more, but it's still an investment worth considering for many companies if your home-baked disaster-recovery solution makes your auditors roll their eyes in despair.