The goal of server backup and recovery is to ensure that a company can recover from varying degrees of failure, from the loss of individual files to a disaster affecting an entire system. Success is measured by how quickly the company can recover (Recovery Time Objective or RTO), as well as by how small the loss of worker productivity is (Recovery Point Objective or RPO).
A recent study shows that a majority of mid-sized companies do not meet their own RTOs and RPOs for recovery of their most critical server data: databases, financials, and email messages. Many of these companies are seeking alternatives to tape backup, because independent analysts confirm that more than 50 percent of all attempted recoveries from tape fail due to errors in the backup process. In fact, the percentage of total data capacity stored on near-line tape systems declined from 48 percent in 2007 to just 27 percent in 2010 (“Data Protection Market Trends,” John McKnight and Mary Johnston Turner, Enterprise Strategy Group, January, 2008).
Cloud backup and recovery services for servers enable small- to mid-sized companies, and remote offices of larger companies, to reliably meet their RTOs and RPOs. They help protect critical server data at a lower cost than traditional tape systems that require onsite IT professionals to operate and maintain them.
