The Backup Express solution enables near-instant recovery for business applications through application integration for SQL Server, Exchange and Active Directory. Backup Express Instant Availability is the capability to immediately recover files and applications without transferring data.
How it works:

Once Instant Availability is activated, secondary storage volumes appear as local, fully accessible (read/write) drives. Files on the secondary disk are transparently available to users, who can continue to work while Backup Express recovery runs in parallel to restore data to primary storage.

For quick recovery of individual files, users can easily copy from an Instant Availability drive to another drive on the local node. Instant Availability can also be used as an efficient backup verification tool because backup instances on the secondary system are readily usable from a standby node. In addition, Instant Availability is useful in development testing. By mapping the testing node to a backup copy of production data, the new application code can be tested against the read-only data.

Backup Express provides the ability to restore files, applications, or environments from past points in time in the event of system corruption from a virus or other cause. Administrators can use Instant Availability in conjunction with NetApp’s SnapMirror for temporary access to data on mirrored SnapVault backups, without the need for data transfer.

The Backup Express Instant Availability feature also allows businesses to leverage point-in-time images of production data for DR transfer, testing and staging activities.

The following example illustrates a recovery scenario that utilizes Instant Availability to virtually eliminate business interruption during the recovery process:

11:00 am	Syncsort OSSV backup to disk from primary storage node.
12:00 p.m.	Volume failure.
12:00+	Within minutes, the 11:00 a.m. backup instance, accessed through a Logical Unit Number (LUN) on the secondary disk is mapped via iSCSI to the volume drive letter. Business continues. The iSCSI connection is transparent to users. Note that data changes are stored in a designated data area on the secondary disk. The 11:00 a.m. backup instance itself is left in-tact and does not change.
12:05-1:00 p.m.	The failed disk is replaced. Normal business use continues via the live iSCSI connection to the NearStore.
1:00-1:45 p.m.	The 11:00 a.m. backup instance (base data) is transferred to a new primary storage disk. Business continues via the live iSCSI connection without interruption until the system is brought down at a proper maintenance period.
Proper Maintenance Period	Administrator performs data resynchronization. During this period, the system is unavailable to users. Instant Availability gives administrators the flexibility to perform the resynching during a planned overnight or weekend maintenance period.
Business As Usual	Recovery and Restore is completed. The Instant Availability connection is ended by remapping the application volume to the new production primary disk.