Backup For A Thriving Small Business Market

First, small businesses need to know what’s available and how to best leverage the new backup and storage technologies to protect their data. “What we find is that at the traditional small business, the individual who is our primary contact at that small business is usually not very technical,” said Zachary Schuler, president and CEO of Cal Net Technology Group, Northridge, Calif., a network consulting firm specializing in platforms, messaging, backup and recovery for small and midmarket companies.

“It’s either the owner of the company or an office manager or controller—someone who traditionally has a non-technical background. Most of the time when we walk into a new client, whatever backup system they have in place isn’t adequate, even though they thought it was,” Schuler said.

For example, he said one client had been running backups for six months, changing the tape daily. But as it turned out, the tape wasn’t running, so six months of tape were blank.

Others don’t realize the importance of taking backup tapes off-site. “One client didn’t, and a pipe busted above the server and drenched all the backup tapes,” Schuler said.

“The key to putting it on their radar screen is telling a story about what could happen if they don’t take their tapes off-site. Once you tell those stories, you make people realize what the potential risks are,” he said.

Vendors are taking note of the market opportunity and releasing channel products that target the backup and recovery needs of small businesses and home offices. As a result, solution providers have more opportunities than ever before when pitching storage and backup protection to small businesses.

“There has been a dramatic change in how data protection has been done since the end of the big technology boom,” said Michael Parker, senior product marketing manager for Backup Exec products at Symantec, Cupertino, Calif.

One such product indicative of the shift toward small-business-focused technology is the recently released GoVault removable disk storage system from San Jose, Calif.-based Quantum Corp.

Priced affordably and designed specifically for small businesses, GoVault is available with 40-Gbyte, 80-Gbyte or 120-Gbyte interchangeable cartridges, which fit into a dock that can be installed in a standard 5.25-inch or 3.5-inch server or desktop bay. The cartridges can be removed after the data is backed up.

The entry-level package with a dock, a 40-Gbyte cartridge and Yosemite backup software sells for $299. The product will be offered through the channel, primarily as an add-on.

“Many [businesses] are not utilizing what we would consider best practices for backup,” said Greg Fredericks, director of product marketing at Quantum.

“They may not be doing a daily backup, and more importantly, many are not doing any off-site backup. Therefore, if they were to have any issues with a flood or a fire, they’re not going to be able to bring that data back,” Fredericks said. DataFortress, Lafayette, Ill., is taking a different approach with its new product bearing the company’s name. The DataFortress is designed to keep data secure in the event it can’t be removed from an office during a disaster. Essentially, it is a backup disk inside a safe that is plugged into a computer or server.

“Not everybody can afford [products from records storage and management company] Iron Mountain, and tapes burn, too. This should be an answer for a lot of people like graphic artists who have Web sites that if they lost would be a disaster,” said Mark Kohoot, founder of DataFortress.

According to the vendor, the disk inside the DataFortress is immune to the effects of water, fire and magnetic waves, and is capable of shielding data inside the box at 125 degrees Fahrenheit and withstanding outside temperatures exceeding 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.

The system, released in December, uses backup software from EMC, Hopkinton, Mass., and is available with disk capacity ranging from 120 Gbytes to 320 Gbytes.

Ingram Micro recently decided to carry the product. Kohoot said the DataFortress system is expected to retail for between $2,000 and $3,000.