Integrator Wins SMB Disk-Based Backup Sale

Business Solutions often touts the benefits of selling disk-based backup and recovery solutions. However, many VARs still think that disk-based solutions are for midsize and large enterprises only. That's not the case anymore. In fact, Hatfield Integrated Technologies, a systems integrator, recently teamed with DataStor Australia, a technology distributor, to win a disk-based backup and recovery project for Australasian Merchandisers Pty Ltd., an importer and distributor of products for the stationery market.

An existing customer of Hatfield since 1983, Australasian needed a method to provide faster backup and recovery of its data compared to its legacy tape system. The customer also needed some form of disaster recovery protection. Australasian's old tape backup solution was slow and prone to backup failures. To provide an elementary level of disaster recovery, an employee took backup tapes off-site — hardly a secure method of storing valuable company data. When data recovery was needed, it was a slow process from tape — if the correct tape was even in the office. It was nearly impossible to perform a bare-metal (data recovery of an entire business system to a blank hard disk) test restore. As a result, the company went long periods without testing its data recovery capabilities. A disk-based backup and recovery solution was required, but Australasian did not have the budget for a NAS (network attached storage)-based backup system.

To provide that disk-based solution, Australasian looked to DataStor Australia. DataStor designed a disk-based backup and recovery system that would also provide a secure method of off-site data storage for disaster recovery. DataStor sold Australasian a DataPort V Plus Carrier populated with three Seagate Barracuda 320 GB NCQ SATAII disk drives, a DataPort hard shell carrying case, a 2-DataPort Enclosure with integrated DataPort V plus SATA (serial ATA) carriers, two 2-channel SATAII RAID (redundant array of independent disks) controllers, Acronis True Image Echo Server, and Acronis True Image Universal Restore Server — at a cost of $4,257 plus approximately $500 for installation.