Backup and recovery solutions that are comprehensive and include an effective dedupe functionality meet these requirements. In the data protection space there are a number of options for capturing a backup, from application-specific tools to products that are designed for a specific platform, like VMware. Obviously, point solutions are something to avoid, as they typically result in more management overhead, and IT managers turn to full-featured backup applications that can handle the vast majority of an organization’s data sources for this reason.

‘Progressive deduplication’

Deduplication has become a must-have feature in data backup, as a way to reduce the impact that backups can have on an IT infrastructure, especially storage. While the original dedupe solutions were implemented as target-side appliances, the shift is being made to source-side products. Doing the dedupe process on the client server reduces data upstream from the backup server and compounds the benefits of deduplication throughout the infrastructure. In addition to where the dedupe process is run, how it works is also important. Arkeia’s “progressive deduplication”[1]  is a source-side solution that uses specific block sizes for each file type, a process the company developed through extensive empirical research. This technology also handles data insertions to large files, something common in VMware environments, to produce a new level of dedupe performance.

Mobile devices

On the issue of data security, mobile devices (PDAs, smart phones and tablets) are the focal point as IT managers try to get their arms around a flood of new potential vulnerability points. At Symantec Vision last month, the topic of data protection and security around mobile devices was discussed by a panel from the industry. Several points were made that bear repeating. First, the “traditional” security method of storing a list of known threat profiles on each device is not possible with many mobile device types, since they don’t have the capacity that computers do.

Another issue is how to handle personal devices, like smart phones, that employees bring to work and expect to use with company data. While organizations can certainly restrict the use of these devices, there’s a growing concern about the need to allow this practice in order to attract and retain the best people. Personal mobile devices have become a part of everyday life, and people expect to use them at work. For example, who’s going to carry two cell phones? Part of the solution rests in education, a practice the government is certainly familiar with. Employees need a better awareness of the vulnerability their mobile device use can represent, simple things like the amount of data they hold and how easy they are to lose and steal. Also, taking a more holistic approach to security was advocated, like data loss prevention (DLP) methods that take a “content and context” approach to securing data itself, instead of simply making devices harder to penetrate.

Follow me on Twitter: EricSSwiss

                39%   Disk hardware

                14%   Staff

                13%   Maintenance fees

                12%   Storage software [including backup software]

                8%     Storage network hardware

                7%     Professional services

                7%     Removable media [tapes]

First off, where are the tape libraries in this breakdown? Hmm. Also, when you consider the fact that backup infrastructure consumes a good portion of the maintenance and storage software budget and that backups suck a lot of time from the IT staff, (did I just say “backups suck”?), you realize a large portion of the total budget goes to backups. When you add up staff, maintenance, software and tapes, you’re at 46% of the total budget. Now, this won’t all be backup-related, but a good piece of it is.

Maybe outsourcing backup would be the right option. There are certainly a lot of online and outsourced backup services available for VARs. But for many organizations, the fact that most of these focus on backup, instead of recovery makes them less attractive. Organizations that have had an outage or “data loss event” certainly know that backup is only the start — and recovery is where the rubber meets the road. The term “recovery service provider” has recently entered the data protection space, and it may be the missing piece for a lot of companies.

Selling recovery services also has a number of attractive aspects for VARs. It’s a solution users are looking for, it can be an easier way to displace an existing system and it provides a recurring revenue stream.

Follow me on Twitter: EricSSwiss.