IBM today filled a hole in its storage product line-up by buying FilesX, a rising star in the category of continuous data protection (CDP) and data recovery software for Windows.

The Armonk company plans to use the enterprise-oriented FilesX technology as a complement to an existing product called IBM Tivoli Continous Data Protection for Files, IBM officials said in a statement. CDP for Files is geared to individual PC users and small and mid-sized business (SMBs).

FilesX, a small company jointly headquartered in Newton, Mass. and Haifa, Israel, has been partnering lately with both IBM and Hewlett-Packard to help gain visibility and sales for its Xpress Restore product, which started shipping in 2004.

In December, for example, Bob Kelly, business development manager at FilesX, appeared with Claude E. Younger, IBM engagement manager, in an IBM-sponsored Web seminar about CDP, a technology essentially aimed at keeping back-up data up-to-date and speeding data recovery if systems go down.

The increasingly crowded and competitive CDP field is populated by large players such as Microsoft and Symantec along with lots of smaller vendors. Amid the competition, though, FilesX won a multimillion dollar three-year contract last year from the US Department of State, which is using Xpress Restore for data protection and recovery on US Embassy servers in more than 250 countries.

FilesX also gained big recognition from the Gartner Group industry analyst firm last month as one of five "Cool Vendors in Data Protection, 2008."

"Mid-size enterprises and remote office installations should consider FilesX for a complete recovery solution for Microsoft Windows environments that provides replication, continuous data protection, and bare metal restore (BMR) software for files, applications, and the operating system," according to a Gartner research note.

Dave Russell, a Gartner analyst, conceded in the report that Xpress Restore's "lack of non-Windows support may be an issue for some organizations." But on the other hand, he suggested that this same Windows support could serve as a strength.

"Although CDP is a term that has experienced some backlash in the industry, Gartner inquiry and conference polling show that there is rising interest in this capability for Windows files and Exchange environments -- exactly where Xpress Restore is focused," Russell said.

As one standout feature for Xpress Restore, Russell pointed to the product's use of block-level, incremental data capture technology.

"After the initial full backup, only changed blocks are transmitted, making the solution particularly effective in remote-office installations. Recoveries are fast for all sizes of objects, from files to entire servers," according to the Gartner analyst.

Other CDP vendors named to Gartner's list included ExaGrid Systems, Diligent, InMage, and Sepaton.