Leading Italian food group protects critical data with CA`s BrightStor Enterprise Backup

Computer Associates International, Inc (CA) today announced that Barilla S.p.A., one of the largest food manufacturers in Italy and worldwide, has chosen CA`s BrightStor Enterprise Backup to protect the terabyte-plus-per-month of data generated across its complex distributed IT environment.

Barilla, one of the best-known Italian brands worldwide and Italy`s leading food group, exports its products to more than 100 markets. Barilla`s worldwide IT infrastructure is managed from its headquarters in Parma, with some data centres abroad, and delivers database, file and messaging services to more than 2 000 office workstations and more than 1 000 mobile sales force stations. The company`s sophisticated business applications enable it to match a century-old commitment to quality with the efficiency of state-of-the-art management technologies.

Barilla`s need for a more effective data protection strategy began to emerge in recent years as the volume of mission-critical data generated by its distributed systems reached the 250GB-per-month mark - 33% higher than the volume of data saved on its mainframes. At that time, the company elected to implement CA`s BrightStor ARCserve Backup, which provided excellent support for the platforms then in use. Since then, Barilla`s IT infrastructure has continued to grow, bringing the total volume of data requiring protection to more than one terabyte-per-month.

Upon re-evaluating its evolving storage requirements, Barilla turned to CA because of its positive experiences with the company`s solutions and support services.

"BrightStor Enterprise Backup`s high performance, flexibility and ease of use make it the obvious choice for a fast-growing group like Barilla with rapidly expanding information management needs and a long-standing commitment to cutting-edge technology," said Roberto Faraguti, Barilla Group`s chief technology officer. "As critical as our information resources are to our business, it was imperative that we go with the very best solution available - which is clearly CA`s."

Faraguti cited several other factors in his selection of BrightStor Enterprise Backup - including the power of its Cross-Platform Manager, its extensive reporting capability, its easy-to-use "wizards" that simplify backup and restore operations, and its ability to provide granular protection of individual Microsoft Exchange mailboxes and messages.

Systems protected by BrightStor Enterprise Backup support Barilla`s critical business intelligence and knowledge management applications, including Nielsen marketing data, statistics, product prices, service levels and logistics - a particularly vital area that has been outsourced to a group spin-off, Number One Logistics. BrightStor Enterprise Backup also protects the company`s human resources, administration, IP network, and investment management applications.

"We have implemented a system of safeguards for our distributed architecture that depends on strong centralised control," said Faraguti. "BrightStor Enterprise Backup fits perfectly with this architecture, offering robust performance and centralised monitoring from an extremely intuitive management interface."

Faraguti explained that BrightStor Enterprise Backup would enable Barilla to introduce SAN technology into its enterprise storage architecture without disrupting existing management and operational practices. "CA has clearly shown its commitment to keeping pace with technologies, such as Windows 2000 and SANs, as they become available," said Faraguti. "This gives us a tremendous confidence in the long-term value of our BrightStor implementation as we continue to take advantage of the latest developments in IT."

Barilla is implementing several components of BrightStor Enterprise Backup, including SAN and Tape Library options. "We`re delighted that Barilla continues to rely on CA as its strategic provider of backup solutions," said Alfonso Nobilio, Country Manager CA Italy. "We look forward to working closely with them to meet their evolving needs as they continue to grow and extend their enterprise IT environment."