Tag Archives: Backup Technology

Retention Policies are expensive � Not with Online Backup

August 19, 2009 General, Online Backup

Mathias Thurman�recently wrote an article about how having to buy new tapes was costing his company $40,000 each month, because he wasn�t be law allowed to re-use any tapes under 7 years old.� This huge expenditure for new tapes is not uncommon among many companies, and the cost of storing and transporting these tapes often results in companies simply being unable to meet with the law set in place resulting in severe fines and penalties issues by watchdogs and authorities.� However this large figure can be significantly reduced with online data backup from Backup Technology and Asigra.

Asigra has developed automatic retention policies that can be customised by the user, to fit in with their own company data retention policies and also those enforced by the FSA and industry governing bodies.� This allows companies to store all the appropriate data in Backup Technology�s highly secure, geographically separate data centres in Manchester and London, for the total amount of time needed, moving any data older than a certain period into a lower availability vault saving the client even more money in storage costs.� Automatic deletion of all data once it has reached its retention life span also helps to keep data backup storage costs down, and administrative costs and time expenses down.

Asigra can also help I.T. administrators stay on top of more complex retention policies that are being put in place by governing bodies, for example within the FSA regulations there are many different retention policies that apply to different types of data, such as employee records, different sets of accounts.� These variations in retention policies can easily be applied to separate data sets, giving the I.T. administrator yet more control over their protected data.

Utilising reliable disk to disk storage, extraordinary power of the BluArc infrastructure and technological capabilities of the Asigra software, BTL has helped both household names and SME�s alike to save money on the data retention polices they are being forced to put in place.

BlueArc and Asigra Enhance their Strategic Partnership to Increase Online Backup and Disaster Recovery Speeds

July 14, 2009 General

In 2007, Backup Technology were the first provider worldwide to combine BlueArc’s Titan network attached storage solution with Asigra’s agentless multi site enterprise backup platform. After completing a lengthy process of testing and due diligence the BlueArc solution has provided Backup Technology with the scalability to grow to protect over 950 terabytes of data whilst providing linea performance so that all customers receive the fastest backup and recovery speeds in the industry.

Since 2007 BlueArc and Asigra’s Strategic Partnership has blossomed which has lead to increased testing and understanding of how to harness both solutions to gain the optimum effeciency, performance and scalbility. As Backup Technology manage and operate some of the largest Asigra vaults in the world, the metrics collected from our implementations are also regularly analised and fed back to BlueArc and Asigra to enable them to compare stats from live systems against the benchmarked lab tests.

Last week saw the release of the Blue-Arc mercury series, designed to bring high performance, enterprise class scalability using its high end, hard ware accelerated storage for mid sized users. The mercury range is designed to cater for the market underneath their already establish Titan 3000 series which has become known for its storage consolidation and storage management. Consisting of two products, the mercury 50 and the mercury 100 the capacity ranges from 1 � 2 PB and NAS throughput of 700 MB/s to 1,100 MB/s.

The actual storage consists of tier 0 solid state drives (SSD), tier 1 Fibre Channel disk, tier 2 SATA, a tier 3 of de-duplicated storage for archive or compliance data from other suppliers. There is also a possible tier 4 of some other supplier’s tape or virtual tape library.

The strategic relationship between Backup Technology, BlueArc and Asigra allows for the implementation�of high speed online backup and disaster recovery for all organisations regardless of their data size. With Asigra producing the leading online backup software, their relationship with BlueArc sees the smooth integration and optimised performance with the new mercury range and the existing Titan range.

Backup Technology Increase Data Centre Capacity

June 25, 2009 General

Backup Technology Press Release.

Leeds, 19th June 2009

Internet Facilitators Ltd (IFL) today announced it has signed contracts with Backup Technology Ltd,�the market leading Online Backup and Disaster Recovery specialist, to provide their primary Data Centre location.

The 5 year contract provides Backup Technology with a highly secure dedicated suite accommodating 18 server racks within the high specification IFL2 data centre at Reynolds House in Manchester.

Offering secure, automated and scalable online�backup, disaster recovery and business continuity services designed to grow with their clients� business, Backup Technology services are now regarded as the industry standard method for protecting vital data.

The Key to Backup Technology�s success has been its partnership with Toronto-based Asigra – the world�s leading provider of online backup and disaster recovery software.

Simon Chappell, Backup Technology Managing Director says, �Working with the likes of Asigra and BlueArc, as well as other leaders in our field, we are able to draw on the best software and hardware capabilities in the world to deliver market leading solutions. Identifying a data centre that will safeguard our server equipment and deliver the standard of service to us that our own customers expect was vital. Not only have IFL accommodated our immediate need for data centre space, but they have also built in capacity for growth throughout 2010. Securing this capacity in terms of space and power is a real challenge in today�s data centre marketplace.�

Backup Technology currently protect over 950TB of data for customers worldwide including Liverpool FC, The Government Offices, Cheshire Police and The British Red Cross.

For further information please visit: www.backup-technology.com

Patient data loss forces NHS Trusts to adopt encryption

May 6, 2009 General, Online Backup

Four NHS trusts have agreed to adopt encryption after being found in breach of the Data Protection Act by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

With the security of data being of critical importance to all organisations, none more so then in the public health sector, why do we see data loss over and over again in the public eye?

Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust lost the medical treatment details of 741 patients.

Central Lancashire Primary Care Trust lost medical treatment details of 6,360 patients in Her Majesty’s Prison Preston.

Hull & East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust reported the loss of medical treatment details of 2,300 patients.

This is a stark reminder, not only to Trusts but to all organisations, that information is not always handled with adequate security and responsibility.

But what are the other common risks?� The most familiar and unnoted risk is in the transportation of unencrypted data via tape.� The daily tape backup routine, whether it is performed by an IT technician or secretary, carries the responsibility of holding the crown jewels to their organisation in an unencrypted and exposed format.

So what other ways can an organisation backup and protect their critical data? Is there a best practice to avoid data loss and ensure the encryption of data both in and outside the workplace?

Backup Technology can provide best practice for data backup using our market leading Online Backup, Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity solutions which are fully automated and encrypted up to 256 bit AES.

Take the required steps now before your organisation is the next in the press for data loss