Tape No Reliable Option for IT Managers Seeking to Eliminate Single Point of Failure

According to a survey from Acronis International GmbH conducted by Redmond Magazine, 59% of organizations recognize the dangers of maintaining just one form of backup, and many are looking to the cloud to eliminate a single point of failure.

In fact, nearly a quarter already backup to the cloud as a secure off-site solution.

Organizations are seeking more secure data protection option, as 75% of survey respondents experienced tape failure in the last year, and 22% see phasing out of legacy backups as a future challenge. IT departments see the cloud as a beneficial off-site storage solution to resolve such issues, with 43% of survey respondents cited the extra layer of data protection as the primary benefit of cloud, while 24% were most attracted to the underlying cost savings.

"Organizations no longer have to incur the risk of a tape failure when staging to cloud can provide the simple added layer of protection that organizations need. Old tape options are still used by many organizations despite the high failure rates, and it is fast losing its reputation as an effective technology with tolerance for downtime reaching near-zero and the velocity of critical data is only increasing. Forward looking IT organizations should be thinking ‘cloud first’ when assessing effective recovery strategies," commented Scott Crenshaw, Acronis SVP of strategy and CMO.

In order to avoid a system relying on a single point of failure and ensure data protection, Acronis recommends organizations adopt a 3-2-1 backup strategy:

• Keep three copies of data, one primary and two backups;
• store backups on two types of media; and
• keep one copy of data off-site.

The cloud clearly plays an essential role in the 3-2-1 strategy as a secure and cost-effective off-site storage solution, and cloud backup adoption is gaining ground. Now, organizations must focus on integrating personal devices into their backup strategy to ensure availability, accessibility and protection of data, regardless of where it resides.

But, in order to develop a comprehensive data protection strategy, companies must also incorporate personal device backup and protection. BYOD remains an obstacle for IT departments, and a quarter see personal device integration as their biggest backup and data recovery challenge. While the cloud is becoming an increasingly viable form of off-site backup, 65% of organizations admit to not backing up personal devices to the cloud.

"Protecting personal devices cannot be a grey area in a data protection strategy that is only tested and maintained for data on desktop or corporate laptops. Legacy backup and recovery policies simply won’t stretch to meet today’s always-on demands. CEO’s are some of the biggest users of the personal iPad for business use – they need to be sure their data is safe."

To view Acronis’ survey infographic