Less Than A Cup Of Coffee A Day?

Today, online backup should be included in the discussion when addressing your company’s backup plan. If your business is new or you are reassessing your plan, an online solution can compliment or in some cases replace your local backup solution, although going entirely remote is not usually recommended. Even if your business already has a successful local backup plan in place, adding an online solution can give you additional peace of mind.

In all cases, it is important to know how online backup solutions work and understand that many online backups are neither designed nor appropriate for a business environment.

In the simplest of definitions, online (or remote) backups are methods of off-site data storage in which files are regularly and automatically collected, compressed, encrypted, and transferred to a remote server over your internet connection.

Many of you reading this article may be familiar with companies such as Mozy or Carbonite. These companies offer an online solution that is targeted for the individual consumer. Their products offer streamlined service and functionality at a very attractive pricing. As an example, Carbonite offers unlimited data backup for $55 a year. The “problem” is that to offer such aggressive pricing they are unable to deliver the critical services and functionality that is necessary for most businesses.

An Enterprise Level Online Backup Solution includes all of the functionality offered by companies such as Mozy and Carbonite, but in addition contain these “missing” but essential functionality:

• Data replication. Information is stored in two Secure Data Centers
• Full database-level backup of Microsoft Exchange
• Full database-level backup of Microsoft SQL
• Full Mapped Drive Support
• Compressed Transfers
• No Bandwidth Throttling
• Ability to backup on-site
• Real time backup

At Progressive, we are pleased to be able to offer to our clients both our own online solution as well as enterprise level solutions from our other Partners such as Symantec.

Does an enterprise level online solution really cost less than a cup of coffee a day ? Yes.

Enterprise level solutions base their pricing model on the amount of data that needs to be stored. As data storage needs increase, the overall price increases but the price per GB goes down. As an example, with Progressive’s Solution a business that is backing up 40 GB of data can expect to pay around $80 per month. That works out to about $2.60 a day. (Ok, maybe not the cheapest cup of coffee you can buy – but definitely less than most Starbuck’s coffees)

If you are interested in learning more about online backups, we are always available to meet and answer any questions that you may have.

If you have any questions or comments, please call us at 682-4990 or Email Us.