Tag Archives: Symantec

Users Rank Asigra as Best Backup Application

July 10, 2014 Damien Garvey

Asigra Cloud Backup is an enterprise-level backup and recovery software platform produced and marketed by Asigra Inc. Asigra Cloud Backup software is a product that swings both ways – it can be set up as your own cloud or as backup as a service: the choice is yours. Asigra Cloud Backup supports the backup and recovery of and can be installed on operating systems such as Windows, Linux and Mac OS. The software also supports the backup and restore of virtualization platforms including VMware.

Asigra’s win in the Quality Awards was clearly out of nowhere. It scored an overall score of 6.38 which is one of the highest it has ever got while its fellow competitors, including HP and Symantec, scored an average of high in to the 5s.

Purchasing new backup software is like making a lifetime decision so it is important to choose the perfect system that is right for you and the data centre. Asigra had the highest ratings for each of the seven statements in the sales-force competence category.

The list continues from the product features to the product reliability and the technical support category. Eventually Asigra got beaten in the Initial Product Quality but Asigra still got the highest ratings in six out of the seven statements showing that this product is a dark horse seeking for its name to be read out in awe. After being asked if ‘you would buy this product again?’ an impressive 93% of its users strongly agreed giving once again a huge amount of success. Asigra really did top off its performance for the Quality Award.

Computers fill our life and our work. They faithfully accumulate our pictures, our company’s books, and the ceaseless emails we get and send. But, unless you back it up, all that data can be gone in a blink of an eye. Backups protect us from viruses, hardware failure, theft, accidental deletion and natural disasters such as floods and fires.

Backup Technology who currently protect over 15 petabytes of data with the Asigra software would like to congratulate the whole of Asigra for this outstanding achievement.

What Future is Held for Antivirus Software?

May 8, 2014 Damien Garvey

Antivirus software has played a major part in helping consumers and businesses keep their data safe by blocking cyber-attacks over a number of years.

Within recent years, hackers have started to develop more sophisticated methods of attack which has caused all sorts of problems for antivirus software developers. As previously reported, the number of data breaches that occurred in 2013 reached a record high.

As the number of data breaches that were experienced in 2013, you would expect the demand for antivirus software programs to be on the increase. However, a leading antivirus software provider believes that this is no longer the case and claimed that antivirus software is now “dead”.

Brian Dye, senior vice president for information security at Symantec stated that software only catches only around 45% of malware attacks due to the sophistication of attacks. Dye also added that because of this, they are changing their focus onto detecting and responding to attacks rather than just trying to offer a product to protect against the attacks.

Dye stated, “The company is now moving its business towards detecting and responding to attacks, rather than simply trying to protect against them.”

Dye also stated that he believes that they have fallen behind competitors in the antivirus market but that they are trying hard to catch up again.

Dye added, “It’s one thing to sit there and get frustrated. It’s another thing to act on it, go get your act together and go play the game you should have been playing in the first place.”

At the moment, Symantec develop and sell the Norton antivirus software and have a turnover of around £590. At present, they control an 8% share of the antivirus market which accounts for 40% of the company’s revenue.

With such claims made by Dye about the effectiveness of antivirus products, it is essential that all critical data is protected by a robust backup solution. It is evident that some antivirus developers no longer have total faith in their own products and are looking at moving into other market areas to try and help consumers and businesses protect themselves against the ever increasing threat of cyber-attacks.

By having a robust backup solution in place, you can have the peace of mind that you can recover your data if it is deleted or modified during a cyber-attack.

Do you trust the antivirus program that you use? Do you have a robust backup solution in place?

Backup Technology Offers Lifeline to Symantec Backup Exec.Cloud Customers

December 6, 2013

Free Migration Available to Asigra Backup Solution

Leeds, United Kingdom: Backup Technology (BTL), which specialises in online backup & disaster recovery services for global enterprises, is offering a lifeline to Symantec customers affected by the American company�s decision to close down its Backup Exec.cloud service.

The offer of a free migration to all Backup Exec.cloud customers comes after BTL moved Datek Solutions to its Asigra-based backup solution platform just days after the UK IT consultancy received an email from Symantec saying it would end its Backup Exec.cloud and stop selling subscriptions or renewals in Jan 2014.� Datek is now centrally managing its multiple customers from BTL�s web-based monitoring portal.

Dave Twilley, Technical Services Manager for Datek Solutions, said: �A lot of our customers rely totally on cloud backup for things like exchange data and sensitive documentation so as soon as we got the end of life email from Symantec we knew we needed to act quickly. We spoke to BTL on the Friday and by the Monday morning all of our customer�s data was fully backed up. They did a great job.�

BTL is now offering a free migration service to all Backup Exec.cloud customers. This will allow them to run BTL�s stable enterprise backup solution alongside the Symantec solution free of charge until the drop dead date of their contract.

Rob Mackle, Sales Manager and Channel Sales Manager EMEA for BTL, said: �Symantec�s announcement has left a lot of customers in limbo. We moved Datek onto our enterprise backup solution quickly and smoothly to ensure their customers were not left exposed from the EOL announcement and we�re now offering free migration to anyone else affected by Symantec�s decision. Once migrated, they can run our Asigra solution in tandem with Backup Exec.cloud to see if it�s the right fit for them and to build up their data history.�

Asigra is the world�s leading online backup software developer and BTL is its largest global partner. The BTL offering provides an Enterprise and WAN optimised solution, allowing large amounts of data to be protected over small bandwidth connections.� BTL’s proprietary portal enables centralised web-based monitoring and consolidated daily emails giving customers full transparency of backups on a real time basis.

BTL, which is part of UK cloud company iomart Group, currently protects over 15 petabytes of data in the public and private cloud for customers including Siemens, British Red Cross, WPP, Pernod Ricard and Liverpool and Everton football clubs.

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Symantec set to pull Backup Exec.cloud

November 29, 2013

Symantec have announced that they will soon cease to offer new subscriptions or renewals for Backup Exec.cloud, citing a lack of mobile and content sharing features, and unsuitability for delivering them in the future.

Backup Exec.cloud was first released in February 2012 and was aimed at giving remote branch offices and SMBs a simple method of backing up their data.

The announcement has so far only been made officially to channel partners; Symantec planned to notify end-users in December. However, the email announcement was seen by IDG, and has predictably gone viral.

Despite pulling Backup Exec.cloud, Symantec did announce in the same email that they were working on new “feature-rich” applications, also cloud based, which will offer what Backup Exec can’t. These include the sharing and mobile access features that Symantec themselves admit Backup Exec.cloud was not designed to do.

The shutdown of .cloud appears to come as part of an overall streamlining movement across Symantec, with President and CEO Steve Bennet leading the way in an effort to promote integration of Symantec’s product portfolio. As an outsider looking in, it seems that for all of Symantec’s products, they can’t as yet offer the features necessary for modern businesses.

Like many products coming to their end of life, support of Backup Exec.cloud will continue for another year, until January 2015. However, not many subscribers will be waiting long before they think about replacement products. Symantec will also be releasing information about refunds of multi-year subscribers at a later date, but did mention that customers would be entitled to Backup Exec-on premises (the ageing tape or disc edition of the software) software at a 35% discounted price. For many this will not suffice as it is not an off-site backup product, and therefore can’t substitute for the cloud format.

Users will have to migrate their own data to any alternative service without the assistance of Symantec, something which is to be expected.�Customers’ data in the cloud will be deleted after their subscriptions expire.

Online Backup: Common Misconceptions

September 4, 2012

Undoubtedly Online Backup has a lot of advocates, yet there are many still unconvinced by its benefits. There are some common misconceptions about Online or Cloud Backup that often push customers away from using it.

Here are some of the most common fictitious theories:

All Online Backup vendors are the same

It may seem obvious that this statement is not true but there are plenty of circumstances of FAQs to demonstrate that a large percentage of people do not realise that there is a difference in the services offered by different Online Backup providers. Backup Technology recently experienced this itself when one of its blogs received a huge response. Several subscribers misinterpreted the article and therefore the difference between enterprise level backup solutions (provided by Backup Technology) and consumer level backup solutions.

Choosing a cloud backup vendor can be a critical decision for you whether it is for personal or commercial usage. Undeniably there is an abundance of Online Backup solutions available and the features that they offer can vary considerably. Some provide the bare minimum while others provide a huge range of features to enhance the service that they provide. These features may include the amount of storage, security, data restoration and technical support.� Thus it is essential that every customer investing in Cloud Backup carefully considers what they want from a solution and a provider when making a decision in order to find the best solution to meet their specific requirements.

Data restoration and recovery takes weeks

This varies from provider to provider. There is an element of truth to this statement if you pick the wrong backup provider. Conversely, with top quality Online Backup and Disaster Recovery solutions, data can be restored and recovered within hours.

Once again it is imperative that the proper research is conducted to find out which solution best caters to your needs. For enterprises, quick recovery times are imperative for their normal operating procedures to continue. �This alongside an adequate DR plan minimises downtime even further in the event of a disaster.

Online backup is expensive

Online backup is expensive

As it has already been stated, the Online Backup market is wide and varying, hence the price of different solutions differs greatly depending upon the features that each provider offers. Providers will also structure their pricing differently. For example, some will base it on amount of data backed up, whilst some will base it on the number of machines on which the software is installed.

Some other features that affect pricing are;

The number of generations of each file that are kept.
Data retention and archiving period options.
Managed backups vs. unmanaged backups.
The level of support available, e.g. 24/7 or normal office hours.

Investment in a good Online Backup solution can have enormous long-term financial benefits for enterprises by significantly lowering costs in the following ways:

Most providers have a pay-as-you-go pricing model so the customer only pays for the amount of data that it wishes to store.
Cloud resources can quickly be added with the fine granularity and have costs that scale smoothly without requiring large upfront investments.
Online eliminates expenditures for backup tapes, disks, external drives and other backup equipment.
The cloud platform manages and maintains the DR servers and storage devices, lowering IT costs and the need for manual intervention.

Furthermore, according to Symantec�s Disaster Preparedness Survey, the median cost of downtime for an SMB following a disaster is $12, 500 per day. The implementation of an effective Online Backup and Disaster Recovery plan can reduce this cost drastically by minimising downtime.

Online Backup is enough

Online backup is a foundational technology but for many customers, it is no longer enough. In an ideal world, data should be backed up in more than one location in order to minimise risk of data loss in the event of a disaster. It is always a good idea to keep a local copy as well as an off-site copy in the form of Online Backup to add an extra level of protection to your business.

Choosing your Online Backup provider

It is important to be wise when choosing your Online Backup provider. Secure backup and reliable restoration are foundational to your business� success. Investigate your options critically. Be sure that your provider fulfills your specific requirements, whether you are looking for a consumer or enterprise level solution.�

Symantec antivirus update causes XP blue screen

July 16, 2012

Symantec�s latest update to its Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) 12.1 antivirus software has caused complete failure of some users� machines. The press release from Symantec listed the combination of software programs susceptible to this problem.

According to Symantec Security Response only customers that match these criteria who downloaded the July 11^th rev11 SONAR signature set will have been affected. It is thought that a three-way interaction between third-party software, not yet named, SONAR signature and Windows XP Cache manager is the cause of the issue.

Symantec claims to have an extensive testing protocol, including compatibility testing, that it follows before releasing updates to its software. However, in the same release, Symantec effectively admitted to not having a compatibility testing procedure that was rigorous enough by stating it will be improved before any further SONAR updates are released.

This is an embarrassing episode for Symantec, as until now its SEP 12.1 software has received excellent reviews, as well as being the first antivirus developer to offer an enterprise level cloud-based technology. The 12.1 software recognises malicious behaviour of malware rather than the signatures of malware, as older systems would. Therefore, the 12.1 version is able to recognise thousands of malware signatures derived from the same point without having seen them before. The older method is becoming increasingly redundant as approximately 55,000 new malware signatures are developed each day, something which no traditional antivirus software can keep up with.

Customers� responses to the catastrophe have been mixed; with some simply asking for the solution where as others have vented their frustration on the message thread of the associated press release.

There had been reports that Symantec were looking into compensation for customers over time lost fixing the problem. This was refuted by a spokesperson for Symantec, who said there would be no compensation packages paid out; however, they would be �reaching out to customers directly to offer technical assistance�. Judging by the angry response of some customers, I�m not sure this will go far enough.