Guest post by Mamush Heayie

The backup and storage landscape has changed. Network traffic patterns have been transformed. There are no predictable, point-to-point transaction activities any more. Transactions are bandwidth intense, many-to-many and demanding. Databases must be available 24 x 7 x 365, and servers cannot shut down their services day or night. Data formats have also changed. There are new data types—video files, audio files, unstructured data files and big data—that must be backed-up, stored securely, replicated, delivered or archived. There is a proliferation of server applications and user applications. Organizations striving to stabilize their networks and backup processes must remain conscious of this changing computing environment. However, they need not over provision their network infrastructure or discard existing infrastructure in favor of standardized equipment. They can turn to Cloud backup services and abstract their concerns around network traffic to their backup service vendor.

Cloud backup services take a holistic approach to network and IT services management. They promise to deliver a reliable, secure and cost efficient network / business experience to their customers over the Internet and work towards delivering on their promise in multiple ways. Data center consolidation, disaster recovery and business continuity receive focus.

Organization defined Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) are metrics that are considered significant. Data is backed up to local servers, local appliances, local drives, primary servers, remote servers, mirror servers, replication servers, etc. redundantly from a single unified administrative interface. The multiplicity of backups is orchestrated to ensure high availability of information to the enterprise. Plug-ins built into the Cloud backup software is application-aware and light weight to ease the management of multi-platform, multi-operating system based servers and their backup. Virtualization techniques are used to help reduce the number of servers that need to be managed. Administration systems are centralized to simplify the management of IT assets.

Layered security is enforced with “difficult to break” Cryptographic algorithms that may be third party tested and certified. The encryption key is most often user defined and user-managed to provide an additional layer of security. The data at rest remains encrypted for preventing hijack of mission-critical enterprise information. Access to information can be restricted by administrators from the central user management interface and only users with assigned rights and permissions can gain access to enterprise information. Authorized users can recover data from anywhere, anytime to any kind of hardware (Bare metal recovery).

About the Author: Mamush Heayie is Managing Editor at www.BackupReview.info – a leading informational website for the Cloud backup and data storage industry.

Guest post by Mamush Heayie

Making the Cloud backup decision is the easy first part of a long drawn out process. The difficult parts follow. What kind of Cloud backup should be selected for the organization? What kind of features does one look for? How does one make sure that the support promised by the Cloud backup vendor will be delivered? These are a few of many questions that must be asked and answered before one can properly set out to shop for Cloud backup! Add to this the problems one will face while communicating their needs and buying the right service. Often, the customer and the vendor take things for granted; and this could result in huge communication gaps that cannot be bridged later.

Shopping for the right Cloud backup service is not easy. The shopping process should not be rushed; rather, it must be deliberate, with lots of due diligence. The Cloud industry is still being shaped, and developed. Some features have matured and some are still being worked on. “Standards” are emerging, but emerging slowly. As a result, similar services being offered by different cloud backup vendors are really very dissimilar. This can be very confusing at times.  The process of making the right choice can get very complicated.

So how do you pick the right Cloud backup service provider? One way is to contact a few people from the Cloud backup industry and ask for their opinions. This could be done by first short-listing your final three service providers.

Furthermore, data switching between one Cloud service provider and another is a need that is just being addressed. Control of data privacy, compliance with the extant laws, correction and deletion of data and potential for security breaches are some of the areas of concern to the Cloud backup shopper.

Established Cloud backup service providers have displayed a surprising resilience and maturity in almost all the areas of concern. They seem to have thought through end-user problems and come up with solutions that have stood the test of time. They have standardized offerings and service level agreements (SLAs) that are executed and implemented with dedication and understanding. They shape their software and their deployment policies keeping in view the customers and their preferences. They assume leadership and ensure that their channel partners deliver quality service at minimum cost. They keep their fingers on the pulse of the market and work with their partners to bring to the table state of the art Cloud backup and recovery solutions.

Cloud backup and recovery solution shoppers would do well to thoroughly research the service providers they shortlist and do a multi-dimensional evaluation of their capabilities. They should visit discussion forums, review sites, and other social media sites to ensure that the Cloud backup service provider they have shortlisted has the right reputation among the customers and the users.

The right selection of a Cloud backup service from the start will have a positive impact on the organization.

About the Author: Mamush Heayie is Managing Editor at www.BackupReview.info – a leading informational website for the cloud backup and data storage industry.