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January 01, 2004 at 07:00 PM
Las Vegas
Long-term data storage is an important consideration, but how can agents and insurers protect themselves against loss of critical data that may be a few weeks old, or may have just been created?
The answer may lie in several new technologies for backup and recovery of critical data introduced during the recent Comdex 2003 Global Technology Marketplace held here.
CMS Products Inc. introduced its Velocity Series backup system for desktop computers. According to Costa Mesa, Calif.-based CMS, the series is the first all-in-one backup product to incorporate a Serial ATA interface, “providing users with complete backup, restore, disaster recovery capabilities and an externally bootable backup system.”
Serial ATA (SATA) is a technology that increases the data transfer rate between points in a computing system.
“The Velocity Series is capable of clocking transfer rates of up to 1.5Gb [gigabits] per second, which is over 3 times faster than backup systems using [other technologies],” the company claims. Because it is an externally bootable system, it can respond instantly after a hard drive or operating system failure. The company is offering an optional Serial ATA controller card to make the technology compatible for machines that dont support the Serial ATA interface.
CMS says the Velocity Series allows users to “go back in time” to access older versions of data from any point in time that a backup was performed. “The ability to access older versions of files is valuable in maintaining an accurate history of documents, which endure ongoing revisions,” CMS explains.
Using a “synchronization component,” users can move between multiple computers and update files, regardless of which computer generated the files, says CMS. “The software automatically scans both the host computers hard drive and the Velocity Series drive for new or changed files, and updates the out-of-date versions by synchronizing them with the up-to-date versions.”
A QuickRestore module allows users to recover data lost in a hard drive failure or accidental deletion by clicking on the “restore” button. The backup device performs a complete restoration of selected data from the most recent backup of the computers hard drive, the company notes. “This feature reduces downtime and increases return on investment through the decrease in help desk or IT department involvement,” adds CMS.
The Velocity Series, which begins shipping this month, is available in capacities from 80GB (gigabytes) to 200GB, with manufacturers suggested prices starting at $299, says CMS. The product is compatible with both Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems.
Further details are available at www.cmsproducts.com.
UltraBac Software showcased UltraBac Disaster Recovery (UBDR) Pro, which uses “snapshot disk imaging technology” to back up Microsoft Windows servers and workstations.
According to Bellevue, Wash.-based UltraBac, the product enables recovery of an unbootable machine in “minutes.”
The company says it developed the product at the request of disaster recovery users who wanted an easier, faster and more reliable method to boot dead machines than using old DOS technology. “The days of an administrator needing 2 hours to 2 days to recover a failed server are over,” says Morgan Edwards, CEO and founder of UltraBac. “Now, its 15 minutes, or even less on a high-speed network.”
