DataCore Software, a provider of storage virtualization and disaster recovery services, has expanded its line of new storage area network software starter packages priced for small-to-midsize businesses.

DataCore has said that its new packages reset the industry's starting price point for business continuity services that provide true auto failover/failback availability and fault tolerance.

These new packages are expected to provide a new level of automated storage protection to ensure business uptime, while also lowering the cost and complexity barriers of storage area network (SAN) storage for Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix, Virtual Iron, Parallels, VMware and other server and desktop virtualization environments.

The new software packages, with entry prices starting at under $2,000 per server, are expected to include thin provisioning, data migration technology, storage performance caching software, snapshots for fast disk backups, remote site disaster recovery replication and DataCore's high-availability data protection.

George Teixeira, president and CEO of DataCore Software, said: "Two critical elements necessary for safe and effective virtualization have remained out of reach for small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs) - SANs to consolidate and manage storage, and business continuity solutions to assure that consolidation works for you and not against you. SMBs needed a solution that does both and does it at the right price."