Data protection strategies need rethink – StorageTek
Data protection strategies need rethink – StorageTek
Traditional approaches to data protection are being overwhelmed, with backup window constraints and recovery time causing the most problems. That is according to a new survey conducted by storage systems and services provider StorageTek.
"With data volumes increasing by 70 percent per year, it's no wonder that protecting information assets has become a headache," said Philip Belcher, Managing Director for StorageTek Australia / New Zealand. "And the problem will only get worse unless organisations rethink the process."
When data storage management personnel from 127 large and medium sized Australian organisations were asked what issues were causing them the most problems with data protection, issues associated with traditional approaches dominated the responses.
Over half (53.6 percent) experienced 'backup window constraints' or insufficient time to back up data. Nearly half (45.1 percent) cited 'recovery time' as an issue, with four in ten (39.9 percent) nominating 'backup system complexity' and a similar number (39.9 percent) indicating 'poor disaster recovery and backup strategies'. Interestingly, 'cost' (30.1 percent) and 'performance' (32.0 percent) were each issues at fewer than a third of organisations. Other issues were 'data integrity' (20.3 percent) or 'other' (4.6 percent).
"Organisations are telling us the problem is not so much the 'cost' of protecting data as the 'how'," said Belcher. "The root cause of the problem is that all data gets protected the same way. It's an unsustainable strategy. As data volumes grow, systems are getting overwhelmed.
"StorageTek believes a new approach is required, based on Information Lifecycle Management, a strategy which says that data should be treated differently, according to its business value," he said. "By segmenting and prioritising you can focus resources on the highest priority data, giving the best protection and fastest recovery to the most valuable data."
One way to address issues like backup window constraints and the need for faster recovery is to use disk replication as a data protection strategy. The survey found that organisations are strongly embracing disk replication with more than nine in ten (92.2 percent) using it in some way.
"The cost barriers to disk-based data protection have generally fallen since last year with the availability of lower-cost, enterprise-class disk subsystems," said Mr Belcher. "There are also new options to mirror data between unlike subsystems so expensive disk does not have to be used for both the primary and replicated copy.
There will never be enough money and resources to totally remove risks to your data; the key to success is to match data protection with data value," concluded Belcher.
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