EMC to release new version of Retrospect for Macintosh as Universal Binary

EMC (formerly Dantz) Retrospect is a serious, industrial-strength backup solution, that I have been using at work for quite a while, for backing up a mix of PCs and Macs.
Problem is, the Mac version has been languishing for literally years: the Mac version is 6.1 and has been in the 6.x range since at least 2005, while the PC version is up to 7.5, which brought massive changes, like proactive backups (basically, your computer gets backed up out-of-schedule, as soon as it is connected to your network, really handy for marauding laptops).
Well, now it seems EMC has decided to revive its Mac offering, and they are currently developing Retrospect X (someone tells them that the “X” suffix is soooooo Panther), which, amongst other features will bring this:

Universal Binary
Runs native on Apple’s new x86 (Intel) and PowerPC Macintosh computers for faster processing.
Desktop and notebook backup
Clients are backed up when they become available on the network, rather than on a fixed schedule.
Check-point restart
If backups or restores are interrupted, Retrospect resumes where it left off.

Well, looks like this is shaping like a solid upgrade, at least it should bring the Mac version to the level of the PC version.
Could that be a response to Apple introducing the free (as in shipping with the OS) Time Machine?