Legato Systems is known for its solutions in the areas of data protection and storage management. Caddy Tan, regional manager, Asia-South with Legato Systems, told Gaurav Patra that Legato is not looking at storage management from the storage perspective but rather from a storage application perspective

How is the disaster recovery market segment doing currently?
Two years ago the customer was not interested in disaster recovery, rather he was interested in a data back-up facility. But the September 11, 2001 incident changed customer requirements and demand as they are now seeking solutions for disaster recovery and business continuance. This is what we at Legato are planning to provide to customers. This year and also next year our focus will be on consolidating our position in these segments. And we are looking at providing our customers with end-to-end solutions in these segments. We as a storage management software vendor have the capability to meet user demand.

How critical is the Indian market for Legato?
For Legato, India is a key country as it contributes around 30 percent to our business from Asia-South. As far as disaster recovery is concerned, India is a growing market. There is a huge opportunity for us in India, as the storage management software market in India is expected to grow by 75 percent. We are also conducting a feasibility study to evaluate the possibility of setting up a Technical Support Centre either in India or Singapore.

How has the September 11 incident impacted the overall storage market?
September 11 has definitely helped in the growth of the overall storage segment. CIOs have now realised the importance of protecting their data. IT managers have realised the importance of a solution to overcome a disaster of such magnitude. You just cannot keep your fingers crossed and expect such a thing not to happen again. One should be well prepared for situations like these. September 11 event apart, Legato has taken lot of steps to educate the IT community about the importance of business continuance.

What are your offerings for the Indian market?
Our strength in the storage software segment is what we call data protection and business continuance. We provide tools to customers and educate them as to how they can prevent data loss and also how to continue business operations. So, we have a set of tools to enable end-users to bring applications to remote sites that will protect their valuable data in case of any disaster. These are the two technology areas that we are targeting right now.

Which are the vertical segments you are targeting in India?
As far as Legato is concerned, our software is not specific to any industry. But as far as demand for storage solutions is concerned, I believe telcos are one segment with tremendous potential. Telcos generally have state-of-the-art IT infrastructure with all the latest technology options incorporated into it. They don't have any legacy system and they generally go in for latest storage solutions. Apart from this, banking and financial and corporate segments are definitely segments to follow.

Big corporate houses are not only looking at protecting their valuable data but also offsite disaster recovery solutions. So, this is a critical vertical segment for storage players like us.

What are the main trends in the Indian storage software market?
The storage software segment is very broad. There are players who are pushing Storage Area Network (SAN) management. But at Legato, we are looking at storage management not from the storage prospective but from the application prospective. We have a solution that helps the customer archive his online storage into rear-line storage. This helps reduce the size of the exchange database in the online environment. When your exchange database is smaller, your backup and response time will be faster. So, the archiving of online storage into the rear-line is a very critical trend.