Alan Ritchey Chooses Unitrends

Unitrends announced that Alan Ritchey, Inc., a diversified manufacturer in northeast Texas, relies on a Unitrends disk-to-disk appliance for reliable, easy-to-use, all-in-one backup and archiving.

Alan Ritchey, Inc. is a transportation, mail delivery and agriculture manufacturer and supplier headquartered in the City of Valley View, in northeast Texas. From its founding in 1964, Alan Ritchey, Inc. has grown to become a highly diversified and successful business with 1,100 employees engaged in agriculture, feed mill, oil field services, manufacturing, and transportation operations.

In 2007, Alan Ritchey, Inc. decided it needed to reduce the risk of lost data or business interruption due to a server crash, database corruption, or site-level disaster. This meant it was time to replace its aging tape-based backup solution that they company was using to backup and store its critical company files. The tape-based system was slow, unreliable and difficult to manage.

When selecting a new data protection solution, the IT staff at Alan Ritchey, Inc. was interested in the ease of use and reliability of disk-based backup solutions. They also wanted to move backup data offsite so that they could assure reliable protection of critical business information in the event of fire or site-level disaster. After seeing the advanced backup and recovery features of Unitrends during a product demo, selecting a Unitrends disk-to-disk appliance was an easy choice.

“Our reseller invited us to see a demo of Unitrends, and we were sold,” said Brad Hieb, network administrator, Alan Ritchey, Inc. “Unitrends’ quick file restore times are the best feature. Yet, the software maintenance plan is also an advantage. Some companies try to ‘nickel and dime’ you out of every upgrade, and if you are not comfortable installing it they then charge you support for that too. Unitrends support contract seems to cover it all.”

After implementing Unitrends, Alan Ritchey, Inc. now enjoys daily disk-to-disk (D2D) file backups that are much faster and more reliable than what the old tape backup solution provided. The company also performs archiving using the Unitrends solution with archive disks that are rotated offsite, keeping the original backups on the Unitrends appliance for speedy recovery when needed.

“Unitrends is pleased to provide Alan Ritchey, Inc. with the data protection solution that lives up to the quality and dependability so critical to their business,” said Maria Ellison, senior vice president, support, Unitrends. “As a company, we deliver the comprehensive service and support that is not only prompt and reliable but also proactive. With the Unitrends Data Assurance plan, Alan Ritchey benefits from hardware, software and technical support all in one program. Ultimately, we strive to deliver the service and support that stands head and shoulders above the rest.”