How Businesses Can Protect Data Against Disaster

Monday, March 1, 2004

How Small and Medium-Size Businesses Can Protect Their Data Against Disaster (NAPSA)—It happens to other people, other companies, but not to you or me, right? Wrong. Disasters happen. Company storage and computing systems go down, and when they do, they takeall the billing, payroll, inventory, and e-mail data with them. Hurricanes and earthquakes, fires and floods, and above all everyday things like hardware failures and humanerror can take them down. Some companies never recover. On the other hand, the problem is not insurmountable. To make sure it doesn’t happen to you, consider the three basic cornerstones of any successful business continuity plan: The technology. Basic: start with affordable, easy-to-use data backup and recovery software like VERITAS Backup Exec, which sells for about $500. It’s fast, easy to manage andinstalls in 10 minutes or less. Backup Exec ensures that your data is protected by allowing for automatic, scheduled backups of the business data on your servers AND the valuable data on desktops and laptops at remote locations. It can backup to tape or to disk—increasingly the preference of today’s businesses. In addition, you'll want to have at least one remote location where critical business data is replicated and stored to ensure the recovery of data in the event of a disaster. This secondary site should contain complete, regularly updated copies of all company information. You can be prepared—and protected—whendisasterstrikes. VERITAS Storage Replicator will do this for you, so that you have a mirror image of your main system that lets you easily access, search, and retrieve data, and in real time. Only the data that changes is replicated, making the process easier and faster, without affect- ing business data operations. And, for those companies that have faced the dreaded challenge of trying to recover an e-mail server, VERITASIntelligent Dis- aster Recovery software, a Backup Exec option, not only restores your data but also automates server and application recovery to get you back in business fast. To simplify management, get control of fast-growing data, hold down costs and make sure you're compliant with regulations, you'll want to take note of VERITAS StorageCentral software. It helps you reclaim as much as 30 percent of your disk space by setting policies to remove duplicate files and blocking non-business files such as MP8s and viruses. Another important tool that helps ensure compliance is Enterprise Vault, which lets you archive e-mail and still access it instantly, improving the performance of Microsoft Exchange and reducing the costs of ongoing information storage. The process. Lay down the procedures you want people to follow if a disaster knocks out your system. Whois in charge, and whois the backup? Who shouldbe called, and who should call them? What actions should they take, and in what order? Knowingthese things beforehand will save time—and data—later. And don’t forget to test your recovery procedures to make sure everything works. The people. This is critical. If you don’t have the skills in house, you need to figure out a way to get them—by hiring or contracting. With the right people, the right technology, and a good process — you must haveall three—you'll be able to ensure that your data is protected and managed, minimizing the impact of interruptions on your business. For more information, visit www.veritas.com/smb/naps.

--- PHOTOS ---

File: 20190731-134334-20190731-134331-63019.pdf.jpg

--- FILES ---

File: 20190731-134331-63019.pdf