Copper Valley Telecom Replaces Tape With LaserVault UBD

Electronic Storage Corporation announced that Copper Valley Telecom has simplified their IBM i backups and improved overall efficiencies by implementing LaserVault’s Universal Backup Device (UBD) to replace their tape backup library.

With the implementation of the UBD tapeless backup solution and eliminating the use of physical tape media, Copper Valley’s IBM i backup times have improved. Additionally, they have met their goals of simplifying their processes resulting in better efficiencies, improved productivity, and increased confidence in their backups.

A communications services provider in Valdez, AK for over 50 years, Copper Valley Telecom has been able to eliminate the complex procedures, long backup times, and lack of flexibility that they experienced when using tape media for their backups.

Eve Leonard, IT manager, states: “LaserVault UBD is really a time saver and is indeed simple to use. I am very pleased with the simplicity of the user interface and the solution’s ability to automate the tape creation, initialization and scheduling through Job scheduler. It’s as if the weight of our backup worries has been lifted off our minds.“

UBD is a tapeless backup solution that emulates a tape drive and allows backups from any IBM i (iSeries, AS/400, or System i) or Linux system. Businesses can stop using tape and instead gain a scalable backup and storage option that is integrated with the existing system and connects via FC.

Once connected, UBD appears as a tape drive to the host system. Minimal staff training and little downtime for installation is required because UBD uses standard IBM i tape backup commands. In addition, UBD can be used as a gateway device to store backups on a NAS, SAN or any deduplication appliance that supports CIFS, NFS or iSCSI connections.

Eve explains: “We very rarely use a tape any more, and combined with our offsite backups to the cloud this backup device gives me peace of mind, faster backup time, and allows me the flexibility to work with multiple volumes from my remote office. I no longer have to rely on a person to be physically onsite to load different tapes for me when I need them. With the results we have seen, I am happy we selected UBD.“