Tag Archives: MSP TSM

07.29.15
by

Why the Complexity of Data Backup and Recovery is Not to be Underestimated

Trends in the world of data is causing the backup and recovery of that data to be more complex than it has ver been in the past. The increased complexity of data backup and recovery should not be underestimated.

According to the IBM IEEE Spectrum IBM Bets $3 Billion on the Internet of Things “IBM’s latest business move anticipates huge growth in the Internet of Things, the growing swarm of devices capable of collecting data and sharing it all online. That swarm could include wearable wristband devices such as the Apple Watch, exercise and health-monitoring devices, household gadgets such as Nest’s smart thermostat, and smart cars capable of sharing information about weather and traffic conditions. IBM is betting that many companies will pay handsomely for help in analyzing the deluge of data coming from thousands or millions of sensors and computing devices.”Backup Data Center

The reason data is becoming more complex is because what we consider to be data today we never considered before. What is data? Data is an entity that is input to analysis and reporting so that we may act accordingly. If we need input to determine an action, then the input is data. There was a time when corporations needed only numbers and words for data – for financial reporting for instance. Now, corporations need analog information from devices, sentiment from social media and geo-spatial input to determine the location of the event at the time of interest.

If it is data it needs to backed up for the potential of being recovered upon request. This is becoming more complex than ever.

Data and the backup of that data is getting more complex while over worked IT staffs are still assigning backup and recovery to the ‘new guy’ or sometimes to the most junior specialist in staff. As we have discussed in this blog before “IT staffs are overloaded with mission critical day-today activities. It is understandable that Data Backup may be assigned to the newest member of the team and not deeply analyzed. However, it will become the most critical task the IT staff will undertake when that data needs to be recovered.”

Outsourcing Data backup processes to experienced professionals that specialize in this new form of data is a logical first choice to consider. One purpose to outsource is to free up the time of the IT staff to focus on core business strategies instead of training on the new Backup and Recovery techniques and then spending hours each day looking at logs and emails. The Storage Administrator can be released from the endless cycle of repeating the same tasks over and over again. And, the processes can be designed and performed by experts in the field of complex data backup and recovery.

Contact Salvus Data, specialists in data backup and recovery using Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM).

 

06.29.15
by

IBM is Addressing the Increased Complexity of Corporate Data – Shouldn’t You?

As we have stated several times in different posts on this blog, the complexity of data is increasing. Business data is no longer the traditional structured type that comes from ERP and CRM applications. To remain competitive, the business must include unstructured data from POS systems, Social Media, specialized devices and other sources.

The Internet of Things (IOT) is creating more complex data types within the corporate business data environment. Businesses are integrating the IoT with their mission critical applications at an accelerated rate. The data being generated from devices in trucks, shipping docks, and house water meters are being integrated with core business processes for analytics and advanced business processing. So, this data has now become corporate data adding to the data complexity issue.Salvus Data remote backup

IBM addressed this point in their announcement “IBM Redefines Storage Economics with New Software“. This announcement unveiled IBM Spectrum Storage, a new storage software portfolio designed to address data storage inefficiencies by changing the economics of storage with a layer of intelligent software. From that announcement:

“A new approach is needed to help clients address the cost and complexity driven by tremendous data growth.  Traditional storage is inefficient in today’s world where the value of each piece of data is changing all the time,” said Tom Rosamilia, Senior Vice President, IBM Systems. “IBM is revolutionizing storage with our Spectrum Storage software that helps clients to more efficiently leverage their hardware investments to extract the full business value of data.”

In a previous post, we highlight the issue that this increased complexity and the general evolution of what we now recognize as mission-critical data. These increasingly complex data types are rendering your old data backup and recovery plan obsolete. There should be no hesitation to prioritize the review and update of the corporate data disaster recovery plan. Central backup procedures must be reviewed for proper governance and assurance of data resiliency. This data is now mission critical and must be treated as legacy business data, just like Accounting, Payroll, etc. This provides an additional burden on the IT staff in understanding the implications of developing backup procedures for these diverse data types.

A remote data backup and recovery model, such as that from Salvus Data, is a direction that should be considered. Salvus Data develops and remotely executes the business critical backup strategy. With the Salvus Cloud Management Data Backup/Recovery solution, the client has the most up to date data backup processes without the overhead and time to maintain it. In addition, the client has:

  • access to a team that spends their time doing backups 7×24 365 days a year.
  • the option to have Data Backup/Recovery efforts in-house or at the location of their choice.
  • an American partner who understands business needs within the United States.

The Salvus Data Consultants centrally monitors and manages the backup environments more cost-effectively and with increased service levels. For more information contact Salvus Data at 903-201-7233.

05.05.15
by

Data Backup Considerations for Cloud Computing as Implementation Evolves

Cloud computing is now being adopted by types of organizations at differing levels of expertise and experience.  These cloud services include analytics, business application, development and collaboration projects.

Start-ups were the early adopters of cloud computing using mission critical applications. The benefits to these start-ups were fast implementation, pay-as-you-go terms, scalability and reduced need for high-level in-house IT expertise, to name a few. Large enterprises initially used cloud applications for development projects, analytics, and other less mission-critical needs.

However, there is now a growing interest in cloud applications by large enterprises with established IT staffs.

Cloud BackupThis interest is demonstrated by the investment large providers such as SAP are making in offering mission-critical offerings to their large enterprise customers. An example is the SAP HANA Cloud platform. As they state on their website, “Quickly build innovative consumer-grade and industry apps for today’s always-on, mobile, social, and data-driven world. Deploy and manage them on a highly scalable, secure platform that leverages the in-memory computing power of SAP HANA.” This is very attractive to any size enterprise. The cloud is rapidly becoming a business critical solution for any enterprise.

Cloud computing is also offering the ability for an enterprise to collaborate with other organizations, external suppliers and customers. As stated in Cloud Computing for Business : What is Cloud? 

“Cloud computing enables businesses to think and act beyond the “four walls” of the company through exchange of services. They can access marketplace best practice solutions, and select effective IT services from multiple sources to meet their needs faster and at lower cost. An ecosystem exists where participants in a defined market have integrated business processes and use common standards for exchange of information, products, and services. In today’s world, companies are participating in highly collaborative ecosystems providing their specific expertise to create end-to-end services. This will become more important in the future.”

The Evolutionary Process of Cloud Implementation

An enterprise will progress through its evolutionary process of implementing a cloud solution. First, it may implement non-critical applications. As that goes well, the company will gradually begin to implement mission critical applications until the entire data center is a cloud implementation. Cloud applications will interact with in-house applications for a period of time as all issues of concern are worked out or accepted. As that all goes well the enterprise will progress into collaborating with other organizations and their cloud applications sharing data and initiating actions such as orders and shipments.

While this is happening, governance, security and resilience must be progressing in a synchronized fashion. Data Backup and Recovery processes must be modified accordingly.

Data backup and recovery processes must follow the evolutionary process. While the data can alternatively remain within the customer’s network and backed up off-site to the customer’s choice backup location, the data backup and recovery processes can be managed in the cloud. The data may or may not be in the cloud with the model of remote data backup administration. When the term “cloud” is mentioned, we visualize an “all or nothing” scenario. We think that the data must be replicated to its backup site. We also imagine that the management of the DR processes and the data together must be in the cloud. But, alternative models are possible.

To further discuss the subject of cloud data backup and recovery management, contact Salvus Data Consultants at 903-201-7233. They are Data Backup/Recovery Managed Service Providers that provide remote management of the Backup process, along with professional Disaster Backup and Recovery consultation.