Crossroads Chosen by Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission

Crossroads Systems, Inc. announced that the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission (GSMFC) implemented the Crossroads ShareLoader appliance to centralize data backups and shorten backup windows. Following the deployment, the Commission experienced a 50 percent decrease for its backup window while also ensuring the recovery of business-critical data that aids in overseeing the conservation and utilization of resources in the Gulf of Mexico.

Established in 1949 as a compact of the five Gulf States, GSMFC is tasked with the conservation, development and full utilization of fishery resources of the Gulf of Mexico to provide food, employment, income and recreation. Its mission requires the use and storage of large amounts of data in five offices, requiring a reliable and efficient data backup process that meets budget and efficiency requirements.

Like most small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the GSMFC needed the same backup functionality of a large-scale enterprise, but faced constrained internal resources and a limited budget – challenges that prohibit the purchase of a costly new tape library. The organization needed a solution that does not require extensive resources to operate and offers important cross-platform capabilities, easy installation, and the ability to reduce its backup window.

“ShareLoader decreased our backup window significantly,” said Joe Ferrer, systems administrator at the Ocean Springs, Mississippi-based Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission. “We backup half a terabyte of data a week. The full backup was taking from 26 to 28 hours, and it’s down to 11 hours. The incremental backups were taking about three hours each, and now they take just over an hour.”

Describing the implementation as ‘painless’ and ‘plug and play,’ Ferrer said ShareLoader was backing up data on the Windows server within 45 minutes. From the start of installation, ShareLoader replaced the GSMFC’s Overland Storage AIT-based tape library system used for backing up its Windows server. Soon, the Linux-based Oracle system’s data will be backed up to ShareLoader as well, and all data will be stored on the same type of tape media, creating a uniform backup environment.

“One of the major reasons we chose ShareLoader is because of its cross-platform abilities. ShareLoader can backup our Windows server and Linux-based Oracle server with the same system,” said Ferrer. “When ShareLoader came along, it opened our eyes as to what we could do. The features in ShareLoader that automatically move virtual tapes to physicals really make it a hands-off machine.”

“We’re extremely pleased to work with such an important organization that so poignantly relies upon disaster recovery readiness due to its hurricane-prone locations,” said Rob Sims, President and CEO of Crossroads Systems. “With reliable and efficient data storage serving as a vital tool for the GSMFC’s mission, it’s clear that ShareLoader’s unique features and capabilities offer both peace of mind and welcomed cost savings. ShareLoader provides powerful backup and built-in disaster recovery functionality that efficiently writes to physical tape while also offering unmatched cost effectiveness that meets limited budgets.”