Online backup and offsite replication now easy

New products from Plan-b make online backup and offsite replication easy, safe and sensible

Online backup and offsite replication have just become far more accessible, practical and efficient with the launch of our first online backup products.

BackupNOW offers managed online backups with minimal data transfer at a fraction of the cost of traditional online backup products, while ServerNOW maintains a full replica of the customer’s server with almost continual updates, ensuring near high-availability at low cost.

The new services extend a suite of services that is already the most comprehensive in the market. Only Plan-b offers customers fully equipped standby office facilities and our expertise in server recovery is unsurpassed.

“Online backups in various guises have been available here and there, but it has never been this efficient and affordable,” says Symon Thurlow, Technical Director of Plan-b. “We deliberately delayed our entry into this market until the technology could offer our customers great ease, efficiency and value for money.”

Online backup relieves the need to transport physical data such as tapes, making backup easier. It also facilitates faster recovery of lost data.

The two features that make Plan-b’s new online backup services unique are that they are integrated into a comprehensive business continuity service and that it employs the most advanced technology yet developed.

BackupNOW is the only managed online backup service in New Zealand that de-duplicates data before it is transferred. It uses advanced technology that analyses data on the customer server in small blocks, comparing it with all the blocks of data already held at Plan-b. If the same data block already exists at Plan-b, it is not transmitted. Instead only a pointer to that data is included in the customer’s backup.

“With so many businesses running similar software, it is inevitable that there would be massive overlaps in stored data,” says Symon.

For the customer, the benefit is that only a relatively small amount of data needs to be updated each time, saving on time and telecommunications costs.

Having the data available online also speeds up recovery. If only a specific file or group of files are lost, the customer can restore it from their workplace or home within minutes using a user-friendly password-protected and encrypted service.

At the other end of the scale, if multiple servers have to be restored, these can be done concurrently. Instead of the time for the complete restore being the sum total of the time it took to restore each server, it would only take as long as the single server which was slowest to restore. For customers with multiple servers, this could cut restore time to a fraction of what it would be otherwise.

“The advanced de-duplication technology enables us to maximise storage and offer the enhanced recovery performance at a very competitive price,” says Symon.

ServerNOW, our other new service, refreshes a full replica of the working server at frequent intervals.

“Essentially its role is to back up functionality, not just data. It includes everything from enterprise resource software to the latest emails. Should the customer server fail for whatever reason, the replica we hold could be only a few minutes old.”

In technical terms, customers can achieve a recent recovery point objective (RPO). Because turning the replicated server on only takes a few minutes, customers can also achieve a faster recovery timeframe objective (RTO) than with other more traditional recovery methods.

“Customers who suffer site failure and who relocate to our OfficeNOW emergency standby facilities would also gain additional value by using ServerNOW, as we could have their own server environment ready and waiting by the time they get to the facility. Everything will be familiar to staff and working as they expect.”

RecordNOW, a related product, is also due for launch within the coming weeks. RecordNOW is geared specifically towards sending transaction logs offsite at set intervals. This is especially useful for businesses that do phone or Internet transactions which cannot be reconstructed from a paper trail in case of system failure. Every time certain customer-defined thresholds are reached, the data is shipped to Plan-b for backup.

“While much of our business is about backing up data, we believe that backing up is not the purpose, but only the means to an end,” says Symon. “What it’s really about is mitigating the risk of business interruption. We absolutely have to be able to restore the data and functionality that is backed up. That’s where the true value lies and that is always our focus. Many online backup providers use low-cost storage, but with our focus on prompt recovery, we use high-speed, enterprise grade infrastructure.”

The new products not only make backup easier, but they make restores more reliable. The backed up data is continually scrutinised and tested to ensure that it is recoverable.

“We believe that with Plan-b’s new services, perhaps for the first time, New Zealand businesses have a robust online backup option that makes solid business sense.”

About Plan-b

Plan-b is New Zealand’s largest dedicated business continuity company, providing contingency services to over 500 organisations in New Zealand and Australia. This includes managing backup media and online backup, providing standby recovery facilities, server replication, server recovery and an online crisis response guide. Their advisory team can work with clients to review your Business Continuity Management programme and make sure that effective procedures are in place. They have customer facilities and offices in three Auckland locations, in Hamilton and in Wellington. In addition, their two mobile business recovery units can provide an effective temporary office. Plan-b’s sole aim is to ensure that, should crisis strike, their clients can be back up and running with little interruption and minimal loss.

END

© Scoop Media