Quorum Rolling Out Hybrid-Cloud DRaaS for SMBs

Quorum, Inc. a US-based DRaaS specialist, has launched its onQ hybrid-cloud service for SMBs into the UK.

Hybrid cloud environment

Unlike cloud-based backup environments that simply restore data, this offering restores the entire IT workflow (applications, servers, and data).

The company has just launched its UK and EMEA operations, which will be headed up by David Fisk. This and the product, designed for UK, highlights the company’s commitment to the region.

The service is aimed at SMBs that need DR as much as large enterprises, but without the complexity or high cost associated with traditional data centre replication. It is a DRaaS solution in the UK that integrate an onsite DR appliance with a cloud-based DR platform that provides daily, automated testing of data and servers.

To guarantee that all UK customer data stays within the UK, the cloud-based part of the service will be offered through a dedicated and certified UK data centre.

The platform was originally developed for US Navy warships to ensure that on-ship computers never ‘go down’ during combat. The technology is today designed for businesses to recover their most critical applications and data in the cloud after any storage, systems or site failure.

It works by ensuring critical applications are always ready-to-run (or test) in the Quorum cloud by working in conjunction with the on-premise onQ HA appliance. This approach means that there is no need to ship new hardware, or even construct a machine from an image after a disaster as per most traditional DR applications. As a result, recovery time for users is measured in minutes, not days.

Banbury-based UK reseller Covenco Recovery Services Ltd is already working with Quorum to bring the solution to market.

Gurdip Sohalsales director, Covenco, said: “Quorum’s technology allows us to provide our customers with a seemless backup & DR solution which removes complexity and adds great value to their operations. The ability to offer a robust DRaaS option gives us an important and growing revenue stream that allows us to take a long-term approach with our customers rather than a one-point deal.“

Tony Craythorne, VP of WW sales, Quorum, said: “UK firms have an ever-decreasing tolerance for delays or interruptions to business caused by IT failure. With revenues and brand credibility at stake, an apology for slow recovery in the event of a disaster is simply not acceptable. A cloud-based approach to DR, versus traditional approaches, delivers a more affordable yet more robust choice for many UK businesses.“

Lower pricing per server
The company has chosen to further differentiate its offering by selling DRaaS on a per server basis, than per gigabyte. This makes the hybrid-cloud service solution typically 50% more affordable for SMB and mid-market organisations.

Craythorne explains: “The traditional gigabyte sales model risks becoming very expensive as data scales, and incorrectly puts the focus on data; in contrast, Quorum puts the focus on business operations, which is the value we deliver. Our goal is to acquire new customers by offering them a more comprehensive solution at a far better total cost.“

Other takeaways:

• Security: All data transferred from the HA appliance to the DR cloud goes through a 128 bit AES encrypted session over a 256 bit AES VPN tunnel directly connecting the cloud to the local appliance. There is a dedicated firewall isolating each individual virtual network enabling access to the DR recovery node. All connections to the DR nodes are done via VPN to that firewall.

• PCI Compliance: The company is an instant recovery solution fully certified to the international Payment Card Industry (PCI) security standards. This ensures that when failover into Quorum’s DRaaS or onQ appliance happens confidential payment card information can be handled in a PCI compliant manner.

• Automatic testing: Unlike other cloud storage and backup solutions, this presents a current virtual copy of any server – always on and ready-to-run. Additionally with onQ, daily tests are performed automatically on the servers. Because of cost and complexity, these tests are rarely performed with traditional backup cloud solutions.

The hybrid-cloud service is available via authorised partner channel.