BANGALORE, INDIA: 3PAR, a provider of utility storage, announced the launch of 3PAR Virtual Lock, software designed to help 3PAR customers meet data governance and electronic discovery (eDiscovery) with existing storage products.

Virtual Lock gives 3PAR InServ Storage Server users the ability to protect data volumes and volume copies from intentional or unintentional deletions.

3PAR has developed this capability on top of a thin copy technology foundation to eliminate both the need for up-front capacity allocation as well as the need for an additional security layer at the file level.

Virtual Lock supports reservationless, non-duplicative, read-only virtual copies.

Available for all InServ arrays, Virtual Lock software allows administrators to apply a configurable retention period to virtual volumes—including thin volumes created with 3PAR Thin Provisioning software—and volume copies, such as those created with 3PAR Virtual Copy or 3PAR Full Copy software.