Small and medium-sized companies with multiple remote and branch office sites now have a new, more powerful option to protect their information at every phase of its lifecycle, from creation through archiving.
With the introduction of the ROBObak software suite, featuring flexibility and an affordable cost structure, the application gives small- and mid-sized enterprises abilities not previously available, the company says. The ROBObak approach is specifically focused on helping companies with multiple off-site locations. The firms that are best suited to it might be seeking added data protection and disaster recovery capabilities. These are firms that probably already have a solution in place at their main campuses but face challenges with data located at multiple branch or remote offices. ROBObak is also designed to help them comply with a full range of federal and state regulatory requirements.
The ROBObak software suite is comprised of four separate, yet integrated, parts:
"ROBObak helps us easily manage terabytes of information across multiple locations as a key element of our disaster recovery strategy," said Lee Stone, IT operations manager at an Atlanta-based insurance underwriter with offices across three Southern states. "It's powerful, with advanced capabilities that help us ensure that our data is protected, regardless of where it originates. Features like hot file backup, delta-blocking, and agent-less administration, combined with storage-based pricing, help us comply with the provisions of various regulatory requirements and enable us to maintain the consistent availability of the information that keeps us in business."
"Companies with offsite offices or remote workers face meeting the ongoing challenges of disaster recovery and data protection. They need the confidence that their remote data is protected and secured at the primary sites," said industry analyst David Hill, of the Mesabi Group, author of the report "Data Protection: Adapting to the Sea Change." "Companies that cannot reliably protect their remote data face a list of challenges, including security breaches, failure to comply with regulations, and missed business opportunities. Software like ROBObak is specifically designed to help those firms meet their challenges. Its ease of installation, use and pricing structure will appeal to firms that must maximize protection with a minimum of resources."
ROBObak software is designed to work with Windows-based servers, a major advantage over higher-priced appliance-based solutions that force companies to buy expensive hardware. It installs without agent software on client computers, simplifying the installation and administration process, with one less potential conflict, and supporting leading databases, email servers, and storage devices. It protects computers running across all of today's most popular operating systems, including Windows, Macintosh, Novell, Unix, and Linux, VMS and the IBM iSeries.
ROBObak also allows users to decrease the total amount of storage, through built-in "de-duping" and compression capabilities. It rapidly identifies multiple copies of the same information across the enterprise and eliminates the need to transfer the same data more than once. This allows storage administrators to maximize available space and control costs, while ensuring that original documents are safely stored and available for quick recovery.
In addition, ROBObak is specifically designed to work across multiple locations, making it ideal for service providers. "ROBObak provides an easy set up and faster transfer speeds than any other solution we looked at," said Lee Besing, vice president at Digital Fortress, a Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery Planning company based in San Antonio, Texas, serving an expanding base of clients whose data backup demands are increasing daily.
"Our clients can now protect their data in a variety of waysùindividual file types such as Microsoft SQL Server, Access, or QuickTimeùor back up the entire system. And ROBObak's ability to perform 'bare bones' restoration of data in the event of a hard drive crash allows us to provide added value to our clients. ROBObak stays synchronized with our backup server better than other systems."
Besing also cited ROBObak's easy installation and simple, per-terabyte pricing, calling the decision to offer ROBObak to his clients a "no-brainer." "The capability to rapidly recover data when disaster strikes is more important than ever, regardless of whether the problem arises at the central or branch office," said Ron Roberts, ROBObak's president.
"Our software enables companies to protect critical data from multiple locations more easily and efficiently than with any other solution. It recovers data quickly, minimizes downtime and allows staff to get back to doing their jobs."
ROBObak's patent-pending Advanced File Crawl technology gives IT departments the unprecedented ability to locate and protect any file type on any server and/or workstation throughout a local network and branch offices within seconds. Advanced File Crawl provides custom templates, allowing storage administrators to quickly choose which files need to be protected at any point. For instance, ROBObak allows administrators to specify all PDFs or Excel spreadsheets, regardless of where they're located.
The ROBObak system is also designed to simplify its purchase; costs are determined on how much storage is needed, rather than how many seats are required. Pricing for the ROBObak software system begins at less than $10,000, and is available exclusively through a channel of authorized resellers in North America and Europe. More information is available from the company's Web site ROBObak or by calling 404.935.0800.
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