Master Lock Makes Switch to Cloud Backup and Recovery For More Efficient and Effective Data Protection Management

World’s Largest Manufacturer and Marketer of Padlocks Cuts Backup Management Time by More than 200% with Terian Solutions’ Asigra-Powered Cloud Backup

TORONTO — February 2, 2010 — Asigra Inc., a leading cloud backup and recovery software provider, today announced that Master Lock, a Fortune Brand Company (NYSE: FO) and the world's largest manufacturer and marketer of padlocks, has chosen Terian Solutions' Cloud Backup™ and Recovery services to replace legacy tape backup throughout the enterprise. Master Lock made the move to cloud backup services in order to free IT personnel from the overwhelming amount of time, complexity, and unreliability of tape-based backup.

Over the years, Master Lock’s IT responsibilities have grown considerably while the number of staff members has remained relatively unchanged. “Since 2006, we've added more than 80 servers and 600 users to our systems, increasing the strain on our technology resources,” said Barry Jondahl, Director of Systems Infrastructure and Operations for Master Lock. “With every server we added, the complexity grew, and suddenly it was clear that our backup model was not a fit for our organization. The process of protecting a growing number of diverse systems was becoming so complex and unreliable that a fundamental change in the way we managed backup and recovery became a mandate.”

Master Lock’s previous approach to backup consisted of several tape autoloaders and servers outfitted with internal, stand-alone tape drives in order to serve overseas locations with short backup windows. As Master Lock continued to grow, this system became less and less workable as the data load required multiple tapes per server and after-hours monitoring to change out tapes and ensure that backup processes completed successfully. Master Lock realized it was time to look toward a service-oriented solution that eliminated this tape management headache. In its review of alternative backup options, the company recognized the value of partnering with a backup and recovery service specialist that would free it from the overwhelming amounts of time required to manage data protection in-house.

 “Our previous agent-based backup software was notorious for impacting business productivity because of its inability to perform hot backups on important enterprise applications. In one case, a number of important database servers had to be taken offline for proper backup, bringing important company operations to a standstill. With the new cloud backup system, all of our application backups are hot and we can now run our servers 24x7 without interruption. This is a huge benefit for a company with offices throughout the world and has improved the efficiency of our IT department,” Jondahl said.

 Terian Solutions’ full-service backup and recovery offering using the Asigra Cloud Backup platform enables companies like Master Lock to reduce IT resources while improving data protection and disaster preparedness. "We act like a full-time outsourced employee. Each of our clients receives the benefit of having a backup and recovery specialist on staff. We provide backup administrative services on a daily basis as well as guidance and planning for future projects. Our unlimited phone support keeps us in touch with our customers and makes us a part of their team,” said Mike Colesante, President of Terian Solutions.

 Master Lock joins thousands of companies of every size who are making the switch to cloud backup managed by backup and recovery specialists like Terian Solutions. The partnership between Terian and Asigra results in the ability to reliably recover much more effectively and efficiently than with tape, saving organizations valuable staff time and IT resources.

 “This is a classic case of how backup redesign can help organizations regain control of their backup environment by eliminating the time requirements and complexity of legacy backup solutions,” said Eran Farajun, Executive Vice President for Asigra. “Even large multi-national organizations that have been tangled up in tape backup for years appreciate the simplicity, security and recovery assurance that true business-class cloud backup brings.”

About Asigra

Leading organizations reduce costs by applying cloud computing to backup and recovery with efficient, cost-effective and transformational solutions from Asigra. Customers consistently redirect savings derived from Asigra’s approach to projects of higher strategic and personal value, many of which have been on-hold for a year or more. The positive business outcomes made possible from a low-touch, agentless architecture deliver enormous value with little up-front investment. The company and its products have been widely acclaimed by leading partners such as CDW, HP and SunGard as well as renowned Global 2000 enterprises. Asigra is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with offices globally. For more information, visit www.RecoverYourCool.com <http://www.RecoverYourCool.com> .About Terian Solutions

Terian Solutions combines the award winning Asigra managed backup software with advanced data storage technology to protect customer data with its Secure Backup service. Companies lose critical business data everyday from theft, viruses, fires, floods, and human error. Terian Solutions' experience combined with the best technologies available assures their clients will recover from data loss events. The company’s managed backup service comes with peace of mind in knowing that one’s organization has the ability to make it through the toughest data loss scenarios. Headquartered in Houston, TX, Terian Solutions is a full-service managed data backup, archiving, and disaster recovery provider. For more information, visit www.teriansolutions.com <http://www.teriansolutions.com> . 

 

Time to Start Rethinking Tape for Backup and Disaster Recovery

 Do you have institutional thinking when it comes to your backup strategy?

If I was to conduct a survey right now asking how many of you are still using tape to backup your company’s most critical data, I would bet everything that you would be in the “YES” majority.  It’s crazy to even think about how many companies still rely on tape backups.

 

Think about this for a minute.  Tape has been around since the 1950s.  Even though tape quality and drives have continued to improve, it’s a linear physical backup media that has its limitations.  When was the last time you used tape to backup your music collection or record your favorite TV show or movie?  We’re not even using it anymore at home for our own personal usage, but many of us are still using tape as our primary method of backup for our mission critical corporate data.

So, what are tape’s limitations for backup and disaster recovery?  For backup, tape is somewhat OK...as long as the tapes are not corrupted, have other problems, or you can even find the right tapes when you need them.  For restoring data and recovering full servers, good luck in that process.  Not only is that a time consuming process, but there’s a good chance you will have at least some data loss.  Now ask yourself this...how much downtime and data loss can my company tolerate?  Ideally that answer would be zero.  This is why it’s a great time to rethink your backup and disaster recovery (DR) methods.

Another limitation is less technical and is more rooted to our institutional thinking.  Because we have been using tape for so long, we just continue to use it.  The physical media of tape gives a sense that our data is there, but is it really...

What to think about right now...

While online backup technology has been around for 10 years now, it has always been knocked for being expensive, less secure, and not scalable.  However, all of that is now changing with the introduction of private cloud backup and DR technology.  You can now set up a secure private cloud using affordable drives or work with a service provider via a public cloud to continually backup your most critical data, servers, and even client computers (laptops and PCs).  The idea here is that your data is always backed up and available when you need it.  Restoring a file or fully recovering a server/servers becomes nothing more than a data transfer.  No more hunting for the tapes and praying they work. 

Tape was great in its day, but its day has come and gone now.  It’s time to seriously look at emerging private and public cloud solutions.  So much of your business is now digital, it’s hard to accept data loss and downtime when you do happen to experience a failure or disaster. 

Submitted by Gene Fay, Senior Vice President 

Nine Technology, Inc  www.ninetechinc.com