A-Server Signs First UK Channel Partner

A-Server, supplier of cloud computing, data backup and recovery solutions, has announced Core Consultancy Ltd. as its first UK channel partner to deploy its Advanced Recovery Continuity Appliance (ARCA) for existing and new SME customers across the UK.

Launched earlier this year at Channel Expo 2009 and developed in partnership with Zenith InfoTech, ARCA is a network-attached storage device for Windows Servers preloaded with backup, recovery and virtualization software aimed at small to medium enterprises. The ARCA offers the ability to recover every thing from a single file, database or mail message, up to a full production server, in minutes using its instant Standby Server Virtualization. The ARCA also offers a Bare Metal Restore to dissimilar hardware.

The technology is aimed at IT solution and service providers who deploy an ARCA at each client’s site, which connects via broadband or leased line to a centralised ARCA-Vault that manages off-site backup and restoration of data at multiple sites in a highly scalable and cost effective manner. Each ARCA appliance protects between 4 to 10 local servers depending on configuration, while each ARCA-Vault can manage up to 25 remote ARCA site appliances.

As Sharad Saggar, Managing Director for Core Consultancy Ltd. explains: "We built our own Core Data Safe solution back in 2003 by combining a number of software and hardware platforms and it has served our clients exceptionally well. However, over the last few years the huge volume of data requiring off site backup and the need for faster restoration of both individual files and entire servers has increased rapidly."

Founded in 1998, London based Core Consultancy Ltd. originally offered a range IT services and data backup, off-site storage and recovery focused on tape. Since the launch of its Core Data Safe service in 2003, over 80 SME customers are now using Online Data Backup services with over 30TB under protection at its primary data centre.

"Demand for Core Data Safe is growing steadily, and we felt that an investment in ARCA would allow us to offer an enhanced range of features while moving away from overnight backups to a continuous data protection model based on 15 minute increments," Saggar adds.

Core Consultancy has setup ARCA-Vaults at its data centre migrated around a quarter of its existing clients onto the new platform. "We ran extensive testing on ARCA over the last few months and its ability to recover production servers in less than 30 minutes from a complete hardware failure is extremely impressive. The continual data protection technology means that overnight backup windows are no longer required, which is especially useful for clients who require 24/7 access to IT systems."

Saggar believes that although the online backup market has a lot of new entrants, the majority fail to offer true business continuity. "Many of these new online backup services just dump data from a client’s server onto a big virtual hard drive hosted somewhere on the internet," he explains, "Consequently, getting a single file is relatively easy, but recovering an entire critical email or application server or quickly re-establishing an IT infrastructure in the event of a site relocation due to fire or flood is almost impossible."

"Many of our new clients have tried either local NAS solutions, internet based backups or off-site using tapes and have run into problems when they tried to recover data. They turn to us because they want to be able to pick up a phone and talk to a technical expert who can quickly enact a pre-defined disaster recovery plan and get their business up and running with minimal distress irrespective of the severity of the issue," he explains.

Core Consultancy has built additional layers of integration into the base ARCA solution including two factor authentication and annual disaster recovery tests to ensure each client is fully protected. The Core Data Safe solution adheres to ISO17799 / BS7799 standards and is backed up by a 24 hour helpdesk, physical server restoration and delivery with full business continuity planning and implementation service.

Core Data Safe is sold directly by Core Consultancy and through a network of regional partners. To increase awareness of the new service, Core Consultancy will be holding a channel partner recruitment event in London. The event is targeted at systems integrators and IT consultants who advise and implement business continuity and data backup solutions for small and medium enterprise customers.

The ARCA solution follows on from the success of technology partner Zenith InfoTech which launched a similar service in the US last year. Zenith InfoTech is now managing over 450.000 devices with over 3.000 local IT service providers.

Arvid Fossen, Director Product Management and Marketing, A-Server, added: "ARCA is designed from the ground up to help channel partners create compelling backup and recovery solutions for their clients based on a tested, continually developed and fully supported technology platform. Partners such as Core Consultancy are the type of organisations we believe are in the best position to deliver ARCA. We are keen to engage with channel partners that have built strong and trusted reputations with SME clients and are keen to offer value added business continuity services without having to build and support a bespoke solution themselves."