Quick Facts

Industry

• State/Local Government

Platforms Requiring Protection

• Microsoft Windows
• Windows 2008 and Windows 2003
• Databases in SQL 2000 and 2005
• MS Exchange Server 2007 email
• AS/400

Challenges

• Recovery from tape unreliable and slow
• Required solution that could be administered easily by MCIS staff

Competitors

• Novastor’s NovaNET backup software with tape media
• CW Technologies, a local provider of remote backup services

Solutions

• DPU3000 with rotational (archive) drives

Benefits

• Ease of use with browser-based Rapid Recovery Console
• Automated archive to rotational disks
• Highly reliable backup and recovery compared to tape
• Great tech support when needed

Minnesota Counties

Customer Profile

Minnesota Counties Information Systems (MCIS) is a joint powers organization dedicated to providing quality, integrated information solutions through customized computer applications and responsive support to member counties. Established in 1975, MCIS provides services to thirteen full member counties and seven associate member counties.

Offices are located in Grand Rapids, MN with a staff of twelve providing the software and technical support. With the trend to increasing focus on computerized work processes, the demand for e-government services and web-based communications,  MCIS is experiencing the same demands place on local governments across the board, to conserve taxpayer dollars while delivering an increasingly high level of service.

Challenges

Patricia Lenoch, the Network Administrator, is responsible for daily operation of the MCIS backup solution. Until 2007, MCIS used NovaStor's NovaNET backup software with tape media. MCIS recognized, along with most of the IT industry in recent years, that disk-based backup solutions were becoming more reliable than tape backup. As a result, in 2007 MCIS decided to move away from tape, and replace their existing tape backup with something more reliable. With tape, recalls Lenoch, "we may or may not have had good backups."

For disaster recovery purposes, the replacement system needed to include a way to maintain offsite copies of backups while also providing highly automated local backups with ease of recovery in case of disaster.

Administration of the new solution needed to be performed by MCIS existing staff, so it would be important to find a solution with ease of use and high-quality support from the vendor.

MCIS looked at the backup services offered by a local managed services provider, but in the end decided they would prefer to purchase a disk-to-disk solution that could be administered by MCIS staff.

CPS, the partner for MCIS's IBM systems, recommended Unitrends as the best disk-to-disk backup solution to fulfill MCIS's requirements. In December 2007 MCIS purchased a Unitrends DPU3000 which was installed by CPS, and is now administered by Lenoch.

Benefits

Today, MCIS is enjoying reliable, high performance whole system protection from their Unitrends DPU3000. Moreover, Unitrends delivers the added protection of disk-based archives that are stored offsite.

The archives are copied automatically on rotational (archive) drives as part of the Unitrends system. These removable drives with copies of backups are transferred to a secure offsite location, while the original backups remain on the local Unitrends appliance. This is a big improvement over tape, where the media could be transferred to a remote site, but then those backups were no longer readily available for quick recovery of files or systems at the local site.

According to Lenoch, MCIS does plan to add a Data Protection Vault at some point in the future, to automatically transfer backups to a remote site. MCIS plans to expand their Unitrends backup to include the AS/400 platform in the near future.

MCIS is enthusiastic about their backup solution from Unitrends, and has recommended Unitrends to their member counties.

“Unitrends is continually improving and updating the product.”

“I like Unitrends’ emphasis on products for small to medium businesses, and also their relationship with our partner CPS.”

“I have been able to restore files many times without having to worry about having the correct media.” “Unitrends offers great support... Always excellent, timely, and thorough.”

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