The Attix5 Backup Professional data protection solution has worked so well for Internet service provider MWEB Business that it has repackaged the technology for its customer base.
MWEB Business provides solutions in the areas of Internet services, application services, content services, Web development, e-commerce, e-procurement and consultancy to businesses.
According to Gary Hart, general manager of marketing and products at MWEB Business, it is company policy that every employee with a notebook is issued with an Attix5 Backup Professional licence to protect their information.
"We've been using the MWEB Online backup for a number of years; and having appreciated its value to our internal staff, we have focused attention on marketing the product to our customers as a value-added service," he says.
MWEB Online backup, powered by Attix5, creates an image of selected files on a remote storage platform, hosted by Attix5 in secure, mirrored data centres hosted by MWEB Business. Using compression and encryption technologies, it securely and automatically backs up user files. Designed for bandwidth-rare South African conditions, it uses very little capacity by only updating those files which have changed since the previous backup.
Frits Haas, solutions architect team leader at MWEB Business, says he has personally experienced the complete loss of data on his notebook. "With Attix5, getting that information back was a simple process. It is for this reason that it is a mandatory service on all MWEB Business company notebooks," he says.
Of particular value, says Hart, is the configurability of the solution. "Through a very simple GUI (graphical user interface) application, it is possible to customise your backups as you please. For example, as a matter of policy we exclude video and MP3 files for greater efficiency in terms of bandwidth and capacity usage."
Given the mobility of notebooks, Hart says customers lose data on a regular basis: "And this no longer presents a problem," he asserts.
The data protection solution has become an essential business tool for MWEB Business. If a user has made a mistake, such as accidentally making changes to a document, they can even choose to restore from up to five previous versions. "With MWEB Online backup, it is possible to conduct ad hoc file restores if the user is away from the office and needs just a single document or file; using GPRS this can be done in a matter of minutes.
Hart says to date the product has been very well accepted by MWEB Business customers. "Once customers understand the concept of an online, offsite backup, seeing the value of the product is immediate. Particularly business people are increasingly appreciative of the value of their information. MWEB Online Backup, powered by Attix5, delivers the peace of mind that data is protected independently of the device," he concludes.
Petrus Human, Head of Professional Services at Attix5, says: "We are delighted that MWEB Business, based on its positive internal user experiences, has taken our product to its broader customer base. It is impossible to place a value on the ability to recover "lost" data, however, most users inform us that in a disaster situation, recovery or replacement of the hardware is a relatively simple process, but recovery of the data is the real challenge. As our product can be set to run backups automatically, we are able to ensure rapid restoration of lost data.
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