Concentric Launches Online Backup Solution

June 16, 2009 Alex Woodie

System i shops that are looking for alternatives to tape-based backup processes were given another option yesterday when Concentric announced its new hosted backup service. The Silicon Valley firm is using online backup technology from i365, formerly EVault, and now part of Seagate Technology, to power its new service.

Companies of all sizes are looking for new ways to protect their data as backup windows shrink and data volumes grow. Virtual tape libraries (VTLs) are one way to speed up backups, but this requires companies to install another device into their data centers that must be managed. Small and mid size businesses (SMBs) may be better candidates for online backup solutions, such as the one that i365 and its partners have offered to the System i (AS/400) community for the last five years.

Now Concentric is offering hosted backup using the i365 technology. Concentric is an established provider of hosting services in San Jose, California. It manages Web sites, e-mail servers, domain servers, and other Internet-centric components of its customers’ IT infrastructures. The addition of managed backup services was a natural fit for the company’s line of business.

Concentric is offering agent-based backups for most major server operating environments, including i OS, AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, Linux, NetWare, and VMWare. It also provides online backups for clustered Windows servers, Exchange, SQL Server, and SharePoint. Data is compressed using block-level delta change technology and encrypted using FIPS-compliant AES algorithms before it is sent across the wire to Concentric’s data center. Customers access and recover data through a Web browser.

Concentric was founded in 1997 and today is a subsidiary of XO Communications, a provider of telecommunications services based in Herndon, Virginia. The three business units–XO Communications, Concentric, and Nextlink Wireless–are held by XO Holdings, which brings in about $1.5 billion in revenue each year, and is traded on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board (OTC BB) exchange. For more information, visit www.concentric.com .

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YOUR ORGANIZATION NEEDS TO BE THINKING DIFFERENTLY ABOUT YOUR
BACKUP & DISASTER RECOVERY STRATEGY

Heightened Concerns of the Industry

Inefficient manual backup processes
Effectively storing data offsite
Developing and testing a concrete disaster recovery plan
Efficient access to data in disaster scenario for necessary users
Risk of cyber security attack
Declining IT staff and resources

The true cause of the above concerns is the “new normal” that is the COVID-19 pandemic and an organization’s status quo:

80% of IBM i users currently backup to tape and 40% of companies
have no DR plan at all.

DURING THIS UNPRESENTEDED TIME, DON’T WAIT FOR YOUR BUSINESS
TO SUFFER A DISASTER TO TAKE ACTION.

The new way to ensure cost-effective safety

Automated cloud backup
Two remote sites – redundant storage, power, internet pipe, firewalls, etc.
Data encryption at all times – in-flight and at-rest
Fully managed remote hardware DR, including remote VPN access for necessary users
Regularly simulated phishing tests and cyber security training

Potential “landmines” in solutions to avoid

Single point of storage – no redundancy
Misleading data analysis, compression/de-dup ratios, sizing of necessary computer resources for backup and DR
Large scale cloud storage with difficult recovery
Inability to meet RTO/RPO

Don’t get caught like the many organizations we’ve seen with inefficient
exposed backup data and no DR plan!

WHAT VAULT400 HAS TO OFFER

Backup

Native software agent schedules backups to the UCG cloud based on your retention scheme
Client data is backed up to two data centers in US or two data centers in Canada
AES bit 256 encryption in-flight and at-rest – 0nly client has the encryption key
Detailed data analysis to ensure proper sizing

Disaster Recovery as a Service