Protecting Data in Today’s Fast-Paced & Uncertain Environment

Protecting Data in Today’s Fast-Paced & Uncertain Environment

Online server data backup and recovery takes hold

 

By Bud Stoddard, President & CEO, AmeriVault Corp.

 

Data, Foundation of Today’s Business

 

Data is not only the foundation of businesses in all industries but remains a vital irreplaceable strategic asset.  But, this asset is threatened today more than ever, given the increasing threat of disaster resulting from the impending war and recent and potential future terrorist activities.  According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 93% of companies who experience a significant data loss will be out of business within 5 years.

 

As a result, data protection has become a critical component in an organization’s disaster recovery and business continuity plans.  Today’s disaster planning professionals are responsible for ensuring uninterrupted operation and immediate recovery of data.  Faced with increasingly narrow recovery windows and “zero tolerance” for disruption they will have no choice but to look outside the box for recovery solutions.  The ability of traditional disaster recovery and business solutions to fulfill corporate objectives in the overall business continuity scheme should be evaluated and a new methodology introduced. 

 

With its ability to most quickly and efficiently perform backup and recovery, online backup is responding to the demands of today’s businesses in these uncertain times.  Its no wonder a technology that used to be seen as unconventional and experimental, is quickly becoming mainstream.  IDC estimates that through 2006, rapid growth will continue in the area of remote backup.

 

Lawyer’s Weekly, the nation’s top source of legal information for practicing attorneys, has used online backup for years to protect their data.  “My feeling is that you’re only as good as your last backup. Our company has many remote locations without systems administrators. As a result, we really have come to depend on online backup as a means of assuring that our backups are done on a daily basis at these sites,” said Tom Bannister, Systems Manager, Lawyer’s Weekly.

 

Data Management Evolves

 

Remarkable changes in the way businesses work, are being fueled by online and other electronic processes going on 24 hours a day.  Business processes are becoming more compressed, and business activities that took days now happen within hours or minutes globally. Companies without a strong foothold in technology will be disadvantaged when facing the evolutionary trend of business changes.  Disaster recovery and business continuity planning must change to coincide with the fast-paced and highly competitive business environment and offer protection against uncontrollable looming disasters. Continuity Planners must turn to solutions that are internet-based.

 

The recent SQL Slammer virus was a prime example of why contingency planning must change to keep up with technology-dependant businesses.  Although SQL Slammer’s effect could have carried a more damaging payload, it brought down 13,000 ATM machines at Bank of America, making it impossible for customers to withdraw cash for an entire weekend and reportedly caused widespread damage at HP and even Microsoft itself.  The disaster recovery and business continuity planning industry was forced to take notice.

 

Myths About Online Backup

 

Whenever an innovative idea threatens to replace current solutions in day-to-day business practices, myths begin to sprout like weeds spotting your favorite golfing green. The uncomfortable reality is that many businesses today suffer from insufficient backup plans.  Data backup is critical for every company. Remember the last time you didn’t suffer from backup headaches? You can’t.

 

A new solution entered the market in the mid 80’s but didn’t launch until the World Wide Web phenomenon took off.  Only then did it catch the attention of IT professionals responsible for safeguarding mission-critical data.  Online backup or electronic vaulting, no matter the coined term, eliminates many typical backup headaches.  The ability to automate your backup and remove the data off-site to a secure vault with a click of a mouse button is now a reality. Online backup is the most innovative, cost-effective and reliable solution out there today. But dispelling the myths about online backup continues to be a challenge for companies offering this technology. 

 

Myth One:  Online backup is too expensive.

 

Initially it may appear that way. Compare a tape scenario for instance. Hardware, software licenses, tapes, personnel — and let us not forget basic human error, add to the cost of traditional back up procedures.  Additional costs accrue with traditional off-site courier service and tape solutions have large up-front and sometimes unexpected costs, while online backup costs are declining.  AmeriVault Corp.™ predicts a double-digit annual decrease in cost due to bandwidth and storage hardware pricing declines.  A small ten gigabyte user with daily backup would pay approximately $460.00 for traditional albeit partial service; while the same user would pay approximately $294.00 for complete, automated service. In addition, online backup technology utilizes a company’s existing telecom lines.  A company can better justify the 24 x 7 cost of its dedicated Internet connection.  Online backup eliminates all these traditional cost factors. With total automation, local backup and off-site protection occur simultaneously.

 

Myth Two: Data is not secure on the Internet.

 

Online backup utilizes the same technology the U.S. Government uses for its security.  Encrypted, fragmented data is sent over telecom lines — pieces of a puzzle in gibberish language.  Online backup vendors can offers clients a highly secure VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection.  This higher level of security ensures that all communication between the client and the vault is encrypted.  Online backup is actually more secure than storing unencrypted data tapes in a remote vault.

 

Myth Three: Online Backup can’t handle a fortune 500 company’s data.

 

Handling large amounts of data over relatively small bandwidth is a popular feature of online backup.  An initial backup or “seed” of the server’s data is extracted.  The Delta Processing technology then seeks out updated portions of changed files.  Only the fragmented change of data is sent to the vault.  Large-volume and highly redundant disk storage systems store the data online.  Online backup providers service businesses with a responsibility to ensure that storage space is always available, no matter what the size.  To further data integrity, reliability and recovery, the massive amounts of data online are backed up to tape on a daily basis, and shipped to an underground vault for safekeeping.

 

An Inevitable Evolution

 

Despite the current myths surrounding online backup, unavoidably it is fast becoming the standard in the business of data backup storage.  Online backup has proven itself to be a fundamental component of disaster recovery and business continuity plans.  Traditional recovery solutions must be retailored to accommodate the new recovery and continuity alternatives available to businesses in this fast-paced and uncertain climate.  No longer can businesses rely on protecting their most important asset with inefficient methods.

 

Loss of data and disasters are inevitable, and so is online backup. The Internet has radically altered the global economy, and with it, the management of securing and restoring data.  Companies who wait until disaster strikes to implement more efficient means of backing up their valuable data, will become extinct like the dinosaurs who once roamed our planet. 

Bud Stoddard has over 20 years of experience in the data protection and storage industry and is the founder of AmeriVault Corp., the pioneer of online server backup and recovery for business. For more information, visit www.amerivault.com.

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Where to Find Great Cheap Laptops

In the market for a laptop, you’re in luck. There are some great sites that will help you in your search. With many laptops starting at $550, some can be found for even less. If looking to save money, finding a notebook or laptop that offers just the basics may be a great option.

For great, laptops, at a great price, head to the web. Many of the notebooks are refurbished and they offer a variety of laptops from Dell, IBM, Gateway, and Toshiba.

The products on the site run from under $250 to $450 an above. Their products include those with CD players, burners, DVD writers, and come in various sizes from twelve inch screens to seventeen inch screens. They accept payment via Paypal, credit cards like Visa, Mastercard, and Discovercard, and they also accept checks and wire transfers like Western Union..

Another great site is Tiger Direct. They offer both refurbished and new laptops at an affordable price. Some of their laptops include the top brands like IBM, Gateway, Compaq, Dell, as well as some lesser known brands like Lenovo and Acer. The prices range from the inexpensive models like Systemax notebook PC at $399.97 or their refurbished Gateway MX6596 model at $499.97 all the way to products like the Sony VAIO TXN17PB valued at $1749.99. The site sells all kinds of accessories for a computer like scanners, printers, keyboards, monitors, all the way to the whole computer. Tiger Direct accepts payment by Papal, eBillme, Verisign, BizRate, and Systemax, as well as credit cards.

Best Buy is a great site to find a great laptop at a bargain price. Users can choose by size, type, brand, or function what kind of notebook computer they want. They offer a wide variety from the basic models to those for professionals. They also have various brands like Mac, IBM, Compaq, Dell, and Gateway. The prices range from under $700 to over $1300.

In addition, there are several quality laptops on the market that can be found at great prices. Consumer Search cites several great choices for those on a budget. The Dell Inspiron E1505 has a reputation of being the best laptop for anyone’s budget and comes with 1 GB of RAM, 128MB video capability. It runs for about $875. Apple has some great cheap laptops as well. The Apple MacBook offers features such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, web cam, and remote control and runs at $630.00. The HP Pavilion dv 2000t is regarded as the best lightweight laptop with a duo processor, 1GB of RAM, and runs at $940. The HP Pavilion dv6000z comes loaded with great features for the computer user into multimedia. It runs at $800.

You will find helpful tips at www.laptops-links.com

Ronald A Page owns and operates http://www.laptops-link.com Toshiba Laptops

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DVR’s

DVR is a duration heard somewhat frequently these existence. What right is DVR? DVR booths for digital videofasten demo. Compared to conventionally worn strategy like fasten noteers, VCRs, or time slip noteers, the DVR is utterly digital and provides many skin that are crucial for high trait facts warehouseroom and retrieval. It is no marvel that this technology has found many applications in countfewer fields.

Instead of demo facts on fastens, DVRs switch facts into MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 plan and supplies it on a hard floppy. A average DVR consists of a logo that supplies facts that forms the hardware and software in the form of a ceremony that provides programming inplanion and the ability to encode anecdotal facts streams resulting from song or diverse effort strategy.

DVR has touched many fields with television, surveillance and monitoring, signal cinema and logistics to name a few. DVRs are usually worn in television to stop a live TV show, revert back a few seconds for an moment repeat. It even lets you skip thorough redundant commercials. In these suitcases, a DVR report frankly to a hard floppy handle.

The plus of DVR is warehouseroom and retrieval. metaphors, signal cinema and connected facts are switched into digital plan and warehoused. The retrieval is somewhat simple and there is no shortfall of trait or facts. There are essentially two types of DVRs. One is platform reliant like the ones that use private computers. A variant of this is platform inreliant that are usually referred to as booth forlorn DVRs. The previous gets facts from a logo such as a camera and then handles the inplanion and passes it on to the warehouseroom logo located on the PC.

halt-forlorn DVR is an all in one organism consisting of a cabinet and crucial sub strategy such as track timbers, brawn sell, CPU and all DVR connected components. regularly, one timber encompasses all this. The software is embedded inside an integrated track mark. halt-forlorn organisms are fewer complicated and are somewhat simple to use. The hardware-software configuration ensures optimal performance and eliminates the possibility of conflict between hardware and software.

Platform based DVRs regularly come with more higher skin and can be upgraded, and\or adapted. As add on strategy can be distorted, DVRs can present customized performance depending on the environment. These strategy are regularly worn in the banking, retail and thrill sectors among others. However, due to the addition of hardware, logo conflicts can begin adversely moving the full organism.

DVRs are also existing to enhance your TV pictureing pleasure. These DVRs allocate you to note up to 4 programs simultaneously. One can also picture up to two programs at a time. With this technology, one can stop a live shout, repeat, series and even skip commercials. distinct VCRs where the total of programming that can be noteed is narrow, a DVR can warehouse up to 20 hours or more of television programming depending on the warehouseroom position.

DVR has become a tiny revolution. In homes, people are now controlling what they picture. In offices, warehouseroom of thousands of hours of digital high trait surveillance facts is at hand and earlier facts acquisition, shift and retrieval. In the prospect, DVR will employ many new people, and many new areas with monitoring pollution levels, withstand view, etc. will be explored.

DVR provides full inplanion about DVR, DVR repictures, DVR cards, DVR software and more. DVR is the sister location of CD printer Software.

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