We Like Tape

It holds our kids’ pictures on the wall.

Tape delay allows us to see the Olympics at a decent hour.

Tape rescues a torn hem on your pants before you walk into that really important meeting where you have to be taken seriously.

But tape can get expensive. And we’re not talking about the Scotch brand that sits in the refill roller in the mailroom. We’re talking about the tape that some companies spend – believe it or not – up to $250,000 a year on, plus the equipment to run it. That’s the tape which stores all their enterprise data.

And yeah, THAT company also has an employee who’s most important job is to make sure that they are sitting there at the precise moment the tape ejects to collect it and run it to an off-site climate controlled storage facility (i.e., remote back-up) so that the CEO can sleep at night knowing that in the event of an unfortunate act of God such as a flood or earthquake or tornado, his company’s information is secure and he will have the blessings of business continuity. (Well, he hopes.)

Except, is it safe? Tapes get stretched and those little buggers don’t give you any error message about the integrity of the medium. You really can go just “so long” running on tapes before wearing them out, and you know, there’s the whole space thing. They only hold so much.

But that’s cool if you like tapes and the whole play and pray game. It’s just that when you restore to tape, you have to have the exact same hardware to get them to play and of course pray that it was a good backup since there’s really no way or knowing if your data protection was successful unless you tried to restore it. But you can always try a previous tape, or the next earlier one, and so on until you find one that works. And remember to load all your software first because that doesn’t get saved on the tapes.

So, I guess it really comes down to the type of tape you like. We like 8-track tapes in a retro-chic Smithsonian kind of way, just like we happen to think of tape backup around here. It’s a nostalgic part of corporate history. But for companies serious about disaster recovery, we’re pretty sure that if you’re still using tape, you might want to take a look at some of our more sophisticated remote backup software solutions that provide advanced data protection with full system recovery – including applications, without all that running around to the storage facilities.

But don’t tell the tape runner dude. He’ll be disappointed that he’s out of a job next week.

Have a crazy “play and pray” story? Enter our November contest: Tell us your most bizarre and convoluted backup method and we’ll send one winner a new Flip Video camera! Enter your comments below:

Global Data Vault to be Featured in FalconStor Case Study

Global Data Vault will be featured in an upcoming case study which will be presented by FalconStor.

FalconStor Software provides comprehensive solutions that facilitate the continuous availability of business-critical data with speed, integrity, and simplicity. These solutions allow businesses of all sizes to overcome real-world data protection and storage challenges including dramatically increasing data, shrinking backup windows, and budgetary constraints.

Over the past several years [Read more...]

New Data Center

To accommodate continuing growth, Global Data Vault today announces the addition of the H5 Data Center in Dallas to its data center network. H5 offers several distinct advantages including the highest levels of security and resilience as well as superior Gigabit connectivity to our Infomart data center. Combined with our sister company, Cloud Data, GDV’s network now includes four data centers as shown here:

Data Center Map

Remote Backup Discussed in CNN Interview

Global Data Vault’s CEO, Will Baccich, was a guest on the Everything Internet Radio Show, on CNN Radio 1190 AM. Baccich discussed different backup options that are available through Global Data Vault, including Server Backup and PC Backup. The CEO also explained Global Data Vault’s Advanced Data Protection service, which provides customers with local protection from minor incidents (i.e. accidental deletion of a file) and more catastrophic events (i.e. a building fire).

Businesses need a reliable way to backup data and continue doing business from remote locations.  Multiple backup options allows customers to chose the appropriate service to best fit their needs.

Click here to listen to the full interview.

Advanced Data Protection for Interop Net

Global Data Vault is a proud sponsor of Interop Net.  Interop Net is the leading global business technology event, with the most comprehensive IT conference and expo available.  The event brings business and technology leaders together to discuss the latest technologies and industry trends.

Considering the possibility of a tsunami in Hawaii yesterday, Brian Chee, Interop Net’s team lead for wireless technology, gave thought to data protection and posted this article which describes how Global Data Vault’s services allow Interop Net to maintain business operations, under any circumstance.

Global Data Vault’s software is installed onto Interop’s Virtual Machines (VM), which allow Interop to synchronize VM images across their Wide Area Network (WAN) connection, and that means Interop still has access to their servers, even when their Network Operations Center (NOC) is packed away in trucks.

How Do You Define and Manage Access Controls?

Access control permits or denies a user access to information, systems or resources. It allows an organization to effectively manage, track and audit disclosure of information.

What are the primary objectives of access controls?
Access control maintains and safeguards confidentiality, integrity and availability of information, systems and resources: [Read more...]

H1N1 Virus and Continuity Planning

The New England Journal of Medicine has provided a map which shows confirmed cases of Swine Flu, as well as confirmed deaths from the virus from both formal and informal sources.

The map below shows the reported confirmed deaths from official sources in the United States from April 1 – September 9.

Pandemic map and Business Continuity

Now compare that to the map below, which shows the confirmed deaths [Read more...]

Are You Prepared?

On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 6 due to the spread of the H1N1 virus.  The virus, also known as Swine Flu, has rapidly established itself and will continue to persist in the coming months as the virus continues to move through susceptible populations.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has released a guidance report which recommends actions that employers should take now to decrease the spread of seasonal flu and 2009 H1N1 flu in the workplace and to help maintain business continuity during the 2009-2010 flu season.  The document states that employers who have developed pandemic plans should revise their plans in light of the current 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreak to take into account the extent and severity of disease in their community.  CDC anticipates that more communities may be affected than were in the spring/summer 2009, and/or more severely affected reflecting wider transmission and possibly greater impact. [Read more...]

Strategic Alliance with Cloud Data

Global Data Vault is pleased to announce the formation of a strategic alliance with Cloud Data, LTD (UK).

Global Data Vault and Cloud Data are service providers addressing business continuity and data protection needs for customers in the small-to-medium business (SMB) and small-to-medium enterprise (SME) space.

This agreement will leverage [Read more...]

Tropical Storm Tests Business Continuity Plans

New England residents are being warned to prepare for the possibility of heavy rains and flooding this weekend as Tropical Storm Danny is forecasted to strengthen over the next couple of days.  The five-day forecast shows Danny passing near the Carolinas late Friday and New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts the day after.  The National Weather Service said that the storm could develop into a Category 1 hurricane Friday.  The combination of heavy rains and flooding brings about the likelihood of power outages in these locations as well.  The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) created checklists so that [Read more...]