Uncover the disk-to-disk-to-tape (D2D2T) strategy to help SMEs to protect their data and ultimately, their businesses.

Companies Have to Safeguard Such Data At All Times For the Well-Being of their Business

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) cannot afford to lose critical customer information regardless of the economic outlook. They have to safeguard such data at all times for the well-being of their business. Indeed, as the economy fluctuates, SMEs need to explore ways to retain value-add if they are to stay ahead of the competition.

In an unpredictable economy, the first step is to explore measures that will allow your company to exit a downturn with the capability to keep clients and meet an anticipated surge in new business. The key to a successful SME - or any business for that matter - is having an in-depth understanding of customers, their spending habits and their purchases - critical information which can only be accumulated over time to see a trend.

Now imagine a dynamic and competitive SME losing momentum if important customer information should suddenly disappear as a result of a stolen laptop, a corrupt file or a failed server. Most SMEs today realise the importance of data protection as a key component of business infrastructure that ensures continuity in the event of unforeseen circumstances. Information is, after all, the lifeblood of any organisation - be it a small business or a multinational corporation.

For SMEs with limited IT resources, the best data protection solution is arguably the disk-to-disk-totape (D2D2T) data strategy, as tape is the most cost-effective option for long-term archiving.

The D2D2T process involves back-up and archiving, where data is first copied to back-up storage on a disk system, then moved on to a tape storage system. The difference between back-up and archiving is that back-up provides the ability to restore the most recently saved version of data. However, it is only a short-term solution to keep the company up and running. Archiving, on the other hand, is a long-term methodology capable of retrieving historical records.

In simple terms, D2D2T strategy capitalises on the speed and performance of disk and the portability of tape. Disk delivers fast and efficient back-ups and rapid restores with minimal manual effort. Tape is used to make copies of the disk back-ups to store off site for archival and disaster recovery purposes.

As the key objective of data protection is to keep information safe and to ensure it is available at all times, four basic steps are involved. The process begins with selecting the right hardware capable of handling the load of moving and managing the data being protected. This is followed by choosing data protection software that is able to take full advantage of disk storage without requiring complex set-up or administration.

Once these two steps are completed, the transfer of information from disk to tape can be executed to protect business information against catastrophic loss in the event of a disaster such as disk failure, a fire, flood or theft.

The final, essential step is to implement an internationally recognised and accepted security standard - known as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) - for the back-up media. As a recognised algorithm standard that is constantly analysed and tested by cryptologists worldwide to ensure its strength and dependability, this is particularly important for tape copies with sensitive information, because it prevents unauthorised access to your data if media is lost or stolen.

A key benefit of implementing AES is that this standard has been adopted by the US and Canadian governments to ensure compliance with an increasing number of international regulations concerning identify theft, security and information integrity. As a result, SMEs with AES algorithms will be reviewed more positively by multinational corporations that also comply with such regulatory requirements.

Today, an increasing number of SMEs are adopting a D2D2T strategy as it has proved to be cost-effective in the long run. By selecting the right components, you can achieve fast and reliable backups and restores, recover from a disaster and satisfy regulatory requirements.

With its information assets protected at the most fundamental level, your company can have a peace of mind and focus on building its businesses through any kind of economic weather.

Notes:

• This article is contributed by EMC Corporation, a member of the Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF).
  
  
• This article first appeared in The Business Times on 04 November 2008 and information is correct at the time of publication.

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