With Communicat’s Managed IT Service your backups will be professionally managed and monitored every day.
At the end of the day your backups are your most important protective measure. We use the best technology available for backups but the best technology is only going to be successful it is managed by highly skilled specialist backup technical staff. Our Managed IT Services strategy includes skilled specialists who carry out regular tests to verify that your backup systems are working correctly, and to take corrective action when required.
Communicat offers a range of backup systems to suit your budget, including “belt and braces” backup methods, i.e. we offer two different methods so that Plan A fails on any given day then you have a secondary Plan B backup data set.
We offer both traditional backup methods using physical media as well as online backups where your data is taken off-site automatically via a secure internet link, transmitting your backup into our data centres.
For medium and larger clients we recommend “store and forward” online backup systems, which will speed up your backups and also provide a higher level of protection. Our service will reduce your risk and, if you experience a data loss we will minimise the rectification time while your system is off-air.
Too many companies have experienced the problem that backup systems appeared to be working, but that appearance provided a false sense of security. Communicat’s prime focus is on supporting mission-critical systems, therefore our staff know how important it is to make sure your backups are in good working order.
The need for backups has been around for a long time, however notwithstanding this long history backup technology is still a long way from perfect. There are many risks that require skilled, manual regular attention to protect your organisation:
- Are you receiving and reading the backup reports that are being sent to you from your backup system? Do you know how to read these reports and recognise errors?
- Your backup system may be reporting that it is working correctly, however have you carried out a test restore to verify that the system can be restored?
- Is your complete system being backed up, or only part of your system?
- If you were to experience a major system failure, how long would it take to retrieve your data and re-instate your system?
Are your backup media taken off-site? There have been many cases where the person who is responsible for taking backup media off-site is on absent on holidays and during that time backup media rotation is forgotten. If this staff absence coincides with the time that a system failure occurs (e.g. water ingress, fire, theft, etc.), it can happen that on-site backups can be lost at the same time that the main system is lost.
Store and forward fast online backup systems
Business today needs to be operational for extended hours across multiple timezones, therefore requiring backup procedures to take place in the minimum time. To meet this requirement Communicat offers time saving backup procedures including store and forward online backups.
Communicat has been supporting finance systems, networks and mission-critical systems since 1987. We specialise in providing robust backup systems for mission-critical and finance systems. In the case of finance systems it is usually necessary to take a complete image backup at a specific time every day to gain maximum protection. This scenario requires that the finance system be off-air with no data being entered while backups are carried out.
To meet this need we offer high-speed backup systems which ensure that your finance system is able to operate for the maximum number of hours per day, and only off air for backups for the absolute minimum time window.
Your business may be operating across a wide range of time-zones which will mean that your time window for the backup process is reduced to a very small period of time. For example, if your business is operating in Western Australia through to New Zealand, and perhaps South-East Asia or further internationally, therefore you may only be able to maintain your system during a small time window.
Communicat’s store and forward backup method will ensure that your operational systems are active for the maximum amount of time, and committed to backups for the shortest possible time window, after all of your Australian businesses are closed and before your international businesses open.
Alternatively, if your international systems are operating on different databases then we can schedule your backups for different times of day, according to the time-zone in each location e.g. to perform backup processing during the late night / early morning time window in Asia, the Americas, Europe, etc.
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