Dear Partners,
Last week, Blake McConnell, Vice President of Product Management for Backup and Recovery announced that the Backup Exec Beta Program is now open for registrations. This is a unique opportunity for you to test and validate the upcoming release of Backup Exec before it’s generally available. You will also have the opportunity to give your opinion and ideas and in turn influence the future of Backup Exec. If you are interested in joining the Backup Exec beta, please visit: buex.ec/be2012beta to sign up today.
Here's Blake's original post for your reference:
It’s always a good day when we can share product updates and progress with Symantec’s Backup Exec community. This is one of those good days.
Thank you
First I want to thank all of you for your continued loyalty to Backup Exec. I realize that today’s update may not address every question, wish or concern, but still want to communicate the significant progress that is being made.
vSphere 5.5® support
Platform support is our top priority. Targeted for release in mid-November, Backup Exec 2012 Service Pack 3 will include support for VMware vSphere 5.5®. Our team will deliver this support within 60 days of vSphere 5.5 general availability (GA). Once the Service Pack is released, it will be available for download from our Support website or you can watch for the patch to be available via LiveUpdate in early December.
Backup Exec 2012 R2 Beta – now open for registration
Today also marks a milestone for the Backup Exec 2012 R2 release, Beta registration is now open! The Beta version includes the functionality you’ve been asking for - media server support for Windows Server 2012, the jobs view and the ability to assign multiple servers to a single backup job. You can learn more about what’s included in the Beta and sign up for it on our official registration page - buex.ec/be2012beta
While we’re on the topic, I want to set proper expectations around the date for Beta availability, which is scheduled for early 2014.
- First and foremost, our goal is to ensure customer delight, which means we will not compromise on quality to ship a product before it’s ready, even for a Beta release. We are taking the time necessary to ensure our Beta code is production-level quality. While this means it takes us a bit longer to reach this milestone, it allows us to get Beta feedback in real world environments, providing data beyond what we can get in a lab environment and yielding an overall higher quality product.
- Second, we expect this Beta will be in high demand so we are opening up registration early to allow enough time to process as many applications as possible before it is available for download. Opening registration now means that those accepted into the program will have access to the Beta download as soon as it becomes available in early 2014. More on that soon!
Windows Server 2012 R2 support – what’s the plan?
Congratulations to the Microsoft team on the GA of Windows Server 2012 R2! Naturally, you want to know if Backup Exec 2012 R2 will support it. What I can tell you right now is that this platform is on our radar and without question, a top priority for our team. My plan is to provide you with an update on Windows Server 2012 R2 support in the next 5 to 6 weeks.
In the meantime, please register for the Beta. We look forward to hearing your feedback!