..............

A remote or online backup solution is the way forward for off-site data protection. Due to regulatory compliance some corporations are holding back from going to this direction, however, much work is being made in this area and soon we have providers that will provide such conformity. On the other hand, the majority of SMBs that have no specific regulatory requirements and certainly most households should consider this platform as their main off-site backup solution.

Nevertheless, SMBs and households should not forget to backup their data locally first and then use a remote storage location as a second means of protection - my advice is:

 

Read more »

Are online backup and recovery solutions cheaper than the counterpart traditional solutions? Before I deal with this argument I would like to point out a few points: – online backups provide an offsite disaster recovery solution, you can access your data from anywhere given that you have an internet connection and additionally, you will be enjoying the expertise and the scalability of big vendors.

Online backups offer cheaper costs per GB for the same functionality because you only pay for what you use. The costs include the storage used, bandwidth consumed and other related services. Data security is based on the latest encryption algorithms and adequate auditing features would place the end-user’s mind at rest!

Read more »

Are cars safe? Are computers safe? Is buying over the internet safe? These are some of the questions people who pose the question above might have asked a hundred, thirty and fifteen years ago. Today, many of us use cars, computers and regularly effect payments over the internet without much thought. When talking about online backups, the simple answer to the question being asked is yes.

Read more »

With today’s inexpensive and large-sized disk drives, disk-to-disk backups have become the default choice for many SMBs! However, off-site backup procedures require the use of tapes and hence, the use of related peripherals such as tape drives. Traditional backup methodologies bring along the need for more storage space and a sharp increase in operational costs! Although, data archives and off-site backups have their advantages, and are a must when meeting compliance regulations they must adhere to more rigid safeguards such as, encryption mechanisms and safe storage. Adequate drills need to be put in place to test recovery procedures on regular basis. Traditional methods create data duplication. To eliminate duplication of data, various methods and applications were created which are known as data de-duplication. Data de-duplication improves data protection, increases the speed of service, and reduces costs.

Why online backups are the way forward – because they provide:

1. User friendly backup/restore applications
2. Native off-site and archival services
3. Reduce secondary storage requirements through data de-duplication concepts
4. Intelligent data transfer methods through hashing algorithms
5. Safe – same data protection means such as, encrypted storage and connection
6. Scalability for future growth
7. Cheaper TCO (total cost of ownership)
8. Introduce pay-per-use concepts
9. Data retrieval anywhere-anytime concepts