Valour (software)
| Company type | Software |
|---|---|
| Industry | Data backup and recovery software |
| Predecessor | Westinghouse Disc Utility (WDU) |
| Founder | Westinghouse and III (Independent Intelligence Incorporated) |
| Headquarters | Orlando , United States |
Area served | Worldwide (Europe, Africa, Far East, Americas) |
Key people | Dr. Ray Ferguson, Leigh Lundin, John Gaston, Kevin Beauregard, Mark Woodruff, Jean-François Groff |
| Products | Valour (also marketed as DiskWorks, USR/Backup, SysCon/I) |
| Owner | Westinghouse Electric Management Systems, SA (WEMSSA) for Europe, Africa, Far East; Westinghouse Electric Pittsburgh for Americas |
Valour is a software solution designed for copying, backing up, and restoring data within IBM's VM systems.
The product
Originally developed as a complete overhaul of the outdated Westinghouse Disc Utility (WDU), Valour—also marketed under names like DiskWorks and other vendor-specific brands—was created to fully support IBM's entire operating system lineup.
Functioning as a highly privileged task within the CMS environment, Valour is compatible with all types of disk and tape drives. It pioneered features such as an early variant of windowed interfaces featuring dynamically updated dialog boxes.
The software accommodates various hierarchical backup strategies, supports data streaming, enables alternating use of tape drives, and includes functionality to defragment minidisks.
Development
The creation of Valour/DiskWorks was the result of a partnership between Westinghouse and III based in Orlando, Florida. Initially, the development effort aimed at both VM/CMS and VSE platforms, with leadership from Dr. Ray Ferguson at Westinghouse and Leigh Lundin from III, while John Gaston headed the VSE team. However, restructuring within Westinghouse amid the outsourcing trends characteristic of the Reaganomics period led to the loss of key developers and collaborators, effectively dissolving one of the top software groups in the industry.
The VM edition was crafted by III (Independent Intelligence Incorporated) in Orlando under the guidance of software architect Leigh Lundin alongside Dr. Ray Ferguson, Kevin Beauregard, Mark Woodruff, and Jean-François Groff.
Development activities took place at Westinghouse Automation Intelligence division offices, with comprehensive testing conducted at IBM data centers located in Tampa, Florida, and Böblingen, Germany.
The development team implemented an OOPS framework that integrated procedural Rexx with assembler code. This made Valour one of the earliest commercial products to incorporate object-oriented design principles within its development environment.
Key innovations included a proprietary high-speed data access technique, networked hierarchical data structures, windowed user interfaces, and a buffering concept termed granularity.
Marketing
Valour offered adaptable branding options: by altering configuration tables and splash screens, it could be customized for any distributor operating in Romance language markets. This facilitated localization across countries such as France, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, each supported by regional marketing agencies. III licensed the software on a non-exclusive basis to various distributors.
For example, in the United States it was promoted as USR/Backup,[1] whereas in Germany it was marketed by SysCon under the name SysCon/I.[2]
Westinghouse Electric Management Systems, SA (WEMSSA), with offices in Paris, London, Geneva, Zürich, Munich, and Amsterdam, held marketing rights covering Europe, Africa, and the Far East; meanwhile, Westinghouse Electric in Pittsburgh managed distribution rights for the Americas.
III extended Valour’s reach by licensing it to additional companies through formal agreements.
Eventually, Valour (DiskWorks) replaced competing offerings like VM Software's Backup/CMS, which had been acquired by Dowling Associates in Dublin, Ohio.