Next-generation data protection

The amount of data that organisations store is increasing exponentially, and many companies are fi nding it harder to protect this data, especially in terms of backup and archiving. A recent Symantec survey found that 45% of SMBs (companies with10 to 500 employees) in Australia and New Zealand do not back up their desktop PCs.

Paul Lancaster, the Director of System Engineering for New Zealand and Australia, said there is an increasing need for companies to implement next-generation data protection. He said that beyond simply protecting information, solutions today must also address “skyrocketing” data growth in addition to compliance with various rules and regulations.

According to the survey, more than half of SMB respondents in Australia and New Zealand experience security breaches, which is one reason why Symantec is focused on the “next generation” of data protection that is powered by disk and centred around recovery. While less than half of SMBs back up their desktop PCs, three in fi ve respondents said they perform back-ups on a daily or more frequent basis, with 69% using disk and 57% using tape. One main reason for the shifts in how data is secured is the need for a complete solution that protects all aspects of the environment and includes application protection, site protection, virtual machine protection and disaster recovery.

“Next-generation data protection must provide comprehensive management of enterprises’ complex environments,” Lancaster said. “That means a single data protection solution that covers all of their platforms, databases and applications.” He added that it also means “protecting all virtual machine types and applications, from mission-critical deployments to commodity servers”.

Having a single data protection solution will allow companies to shift from a previous fixation on back-up to a new focus on recovery, including disaster recovery, mission critical application recovery and system recovery, which includes virtual machines, individual fi les, documents and users.

“Today’s businesses must keep their infrastructures up and running 24/7,” Lancaster said. “They must also be able to access steadily increasing amounts of information – anytime and anywhere. That means that the physical systems, the operating environments and the applications must be protected across all tiers of the infrastructure.”