Buyer’sguideTheNetwork
PracticalbuyingandstrategicadviceforITmanagersanddecisionmakersWhatarethethreerulesofbusinessclub?Backup,backupandbackup.DaveMitchellexplainswhattolookfor,andputsfourcontenderstothetestPerfectpartnership
Thecloudcanprovideeasyanswersto
certainquestions,butyoushouldn’t
relysolelyonitforbackup.Ifyour
internetconnectionorprovidergoes
down,accesstoyourcloudstorage
goeswithit.Youcouldeven
permanentlyloseyourdatain
circumstancesbeyondyourcontrol:
somecustomersofFrenchcompany
OVHrecentlyfoundthisoutthehard
waywhenoneoftheprovider’sdata
centreswasguttedinamajorfire.
That’swhywerecommenda
combinationofon-premisesand
cloudbackup.Thisistheeasiestway
toachievethe“3-2-1”dataprotection
standard–awidelycitedbackup
strategythatsimplymeansretaining
threeup-to-datecopiesofyourdata,
backeduptotwodifferenttypesof
storagemedia,withonecopykeptat
anoffsitelocation.
Thatmaysoundcomplicated,but
agoodbackupproductwillmanage
thewholethingforyou.Inmost
cases,youcandefineasinglebackup
jobthatduplicatesdatatobotha
localserverandyourpreferredcloud
storageprovider–afeatureknown
ashybridbackup.Evenbeforethepandemic,
SMBshadaspottytrack
recordfordatabackup.A2 019
reportbyITservicesprovider
Beamingfoundthatnearlythree
millionsmallandmedium-sized
businessesintheUKwereeither
failingtoprotecttheirdataproperly,
ornotbackingitupatall(seepcpro.
link/ 326 beaming).
In2020,thingsgotevenworse.
Astheworldscrambledtoadaptto
workingfromhome,manycompanies
whohadreliedonoffice-based
backupregimesfoundthat
theirsystemsdidn’tcover
remoteworkers.
Now,atlast,staffare
startingtoreturntotheoffice
–butmanywillcontinue
hybridworking.It’snever
beenmoreimportant,
therefore,toensureyouhave
abackupsolutionthatwill
protectyoufromdisaster,no
matterwhereyouremployees
areloggingonfrom.
Thatdoesn’thavetobea
challenge.Thereareplentyof
top-qualitybackupproducts
onthemarket,suitableforawiderangeofenvironmentsand
budgets.Theyalsocombineon-
premisesandcloudbackupoptions,
toensureyou’reprotectedby
multiplecopiesofyourcriticaldata.
Inthismonth’sbuyer’sguide,we
testhardwareandsoftwaresolutions
fromfourofthebiggestnamesinthe
backupbusiness:Barracuda,Nakivo,
RetrospectandVeritas.They’reall
designedandpricedforSMBs,andon
thefollowingpagesweputeachone
throughitspacestohelpyoumake
therightdata-protectiondecision.Business
Backup 2021
BELOWBarracuda’s
webportalshowsall
youron-premisesand
cloudbackups