Portage Township School District Turns to Unitrends

Unitrends announced that Portage Township School District has deployed its disk-to-disk data protection appliance for reliable, cost-effective backup. With the Unitrends solution, Portage was able to reduce operational costs and protect their entire system.

Located in the southern tip of Lake Michigan in Portage, Indiana, Portage is a public school system with eleven K-12 schools and approximately 8,080 students and 403 teachers.

Portage needed a data protection solution that would address their need for heterogeneous protection for both Microsoft Windows and Novell Netware environments. Whole system protection was particularly important for the district, Portage felt that they could not risk the decreased availability associated with only performing simple file- and application-level backup. The district needed BareMetal support for both its Microsoft Windows and Novell Netware platforms.

“We needed a reliable, quick backup solution that was flexible enough to grow with us,” said Russ Hilton, Network Engineer, Portage Township School District.

Originally the district’s plan was to purchase a system that could be used together with its legacy system; however, once Unitrends’ solution was installed the decision was made to switch all data protection to Unitrends. The ability to use a single solution for different operating systems and applications has reduced operational costs.

“Unitrends offered the most cost effective, easy to use solution that would grow as our needs grew,” said Hilton.

BareMetal protection for both Microsoft Windows and Novell Netware has been put in place as well as file-level data protection. Portage notes that daily backup and archive jobs are now done with no human intervention, and that file and system restoration is simple and powerful.

“We can do daily backup and archive jobs on autopilot. Status reports are emailed so I always know the status of the backup process,” said Hilton. “File level restoration is a breeze when needed. The DPU-3000 along with the Recovery-Archive really makes this a no brainer when it comes to functionality.”

Portage is particularly impressed with the ability of multiple data protection appliances being able to be monitored and managed via a single pane of glass. The district will be using that functionality as their data needs grow.

“Unitrends has become a one stop solution for all our backup and archival needs,” said Hilton. “I am looking forward to purchasing a second appliance to enhance our backup capabilities even more.”

“Many K-12 school systems are looking for cost-effective, easy to use disaster recovery solutions,” said Mike Coney, Unitrends CEO.  “Unitrends’ disk-to-disk data protection appliance delivers a rapid, reliable and affordable backup and recovery solution.”