Data Backup

Introducing Active DataVault

We all know how important our data is.  In fact, it is without doubt one of, if not the, most important asset a business owns.  So, like any asset of value, it should be protected.  The adjacent chart highlights the issues:

Here at Active, we take a proactive approach to supporting our clients, and over the past year, it has come to our attention that the time honoured method of protecting data, i.e. the tape drive, is no longer sufficient to ensure complete and adequate protection.

These following points are being seen time and time again by our engineers:

• Tapes wear out, and can be costly to replace (budget approx. £250+VAT per year for a full set)
• The drives get dirty, necessitating regular cleaning
• Backing up data is slow to tape, given the increasing size of information needing backup
• It requires a human to ensure tapes are changed and taken off site, which often doesn't happen
• Restoring data is laborious, and sometimes doesn't work at all (worn/snapped tapes being a common problem)
• New legislation and insurance requirements, especially with regards to the financial sector, requires a full backup is kept offsite at all times

The above points really need addressing, as it appears to us the drives have not kept pace with the changing needs of our clients.  So, here at Active, we have developed a system that addresses all the above points.  The system comprises a local external half-terabyte (500Gb) hard drive that holds a complete backup every night.  Being a hard drive, it is extremely fast to backup and restore to, there is no human intervention required, and it next to never wears out.  This drive is then supplemented by an off-site Internet backup, stored at Active on our secure, encrypted servers.  This means that should the hard drive fail, or a natural disaster (fire, flood etc.) destroys it, there is a copy held here.  It is also completely automatic.  So each of the above points are addressed as follows:

• Virtually nothing to wear our
• Nothing gets dirty or needs cleaning/maintenance
• Backing up is fast, and half-terabyte storage should be ample for almost everyone
• No human intervention is required whatsoever
• Restoring from the hard drive is 10's of times faster than tape
• And the "backup of the backup" over the Internet ensures double protection as well as compliance with all current legislation and insurance requirements.

Pricing

• There is a one-off setup cost: £280+VAT
• Each server to be backed up requires a service account of £20+VAT
• Each gigabyte of data stored is £1+VAT, charged to the nearest 5Gb increment

Here is a typical example of monthly cost after the setup fee: one server service account with 33Gb stored (round up to 35Gb) = £55+VAT per month.

If you are considering your first backup solution you will see that Active DataVault represents extremely good value when you consider the capital costs of a quality tape drive and software (typical example:  Sony AIT + Veritas software = £1500+VAT approx.) and the tape media as mentioned above (typical example: five tapes = £250+VAT approx. annually) plus the human factor of your staff changing tapes, replacing failed media, cleaning the drive, etc.

There's no time like the present, so contact us today for a personal quote from one of our sales executives.

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