Many of the clients I work with are taking a closer look at their data protection solutions. Currently much of their focus is on trying to decide between purchasing additional storage (disk or tape), replication licensing, or deduplicating virtual tape library (VTL) technologies. The trouble is there are so many data protection products that the selection process becomes extraordinarily complex. So while companies may think of data protection as a singular function or strategy, companies will employ multiple strategies, staff and point products in order to attain a form of universal data protection.
However corporate data protection should not be this complex so when asking yourself what you expect a data protection solution to deliver, chances are that you expect the following:
- A tool that fits into your existing infrastructure.
- Can manage using existing staff without the need for experts
- Provide continuous data protection (i.e. – all data is protected)
- “Any point-in-time” access to data (such as prior to an outage or disaster).
- Data recoveries that occur in a simple and timely manner without impacting production.
- Flexibility to use the tool for purposes such as data migrations or business continuity
After carefully studying most of the data protection tools, understanding company complaints and documenting user requirements, I find myself frequently referring clients to one tool: InMage Systems’ Scout. Scout is not a conventional CDP (continuous data protection) product although most publications and articles I’ve read inaccurately describe it as such. Rather it is the next level of CDP which I refer to as Universal Data Protection (UDP).
So what exactly is UDP since neither this category nor this acronym currently exists in the data protection space? I define UDP as any solution that fits into any infrastructure in a scalable fashion while continuously protecting data. While there are other products that offer CDP, Scout is unique in that it:
- Integrates with applications such as Exchange, SharePoint, SQL Server and Oracle
- Is available on both Windows and Linux platforms
- Makes its CDP technology available on select storage systems
- Provides both file and block level CDP options for hosts
Through the use of Scout, companies can reduce their use and dependency on data protection solutions such as tape backup, storage replication and data migration solutions while also freeing IT departments to focus their time and energy on other key areas.
There is probably no time in the history of data protection that there are as many options available to companies to protect their data as there are right now. However what companies are looking for now has really not changed since they first started protecting their data – a centralized, simplified means to universally protect their data. So if you are looking to eliminate the need for multiple products and simplify your data protection, I advise you to take a look at Scout and find out why Gartner and other analyst firms deem this product a next-generation tool for data protection.