It’s no longer news that the volume of data is exploding. What’s news is that the business value of that data continues to increase and, with it, the need for rapid access.
Unfortunately, moving massive volumes of data from one place to another in traditional storage approaches is no longer viable. Backup and restore take much longer, impacting availability for applications and services. And organizations that require agility to effectively compete in the global economy cannot access data quickly enough to maintain their edge.
While previous generations of backup and storage were built on a common theme—source, process, store and restore data faster and cheaper—they no longer effectively meet today’s expectations for rapid restore and immediate access. That’s why today’s organizations are looking to next-generation data protection strategies to provide rapid data access.
How next-generation data protection works
Next-generation data protection solves the problem of rapid access to data and transforms the backup paradigm from backup-store-restore to capture-reuse.
Changes are captured from primary storage as data blocks at discrete intervals. These intervals might be daily, hourly, or nearly continuously, depending on the need and technology.
Change data are kept in secondary storage, making recovery points immediately available for various uses, including rapid restores.
Use cases for next-generation data protection
Organizations today are under increasing pressure to increase efficiency and productivity—and therefore, agility. Next-generation data protection solutions enable fast access to needed data in an automated self-service way. Consider these use cases:
- DevOps/Test – It used to take weeks for the IT department to set up a production environment for developers and testers to do their work. Even after it was provisioned, developers and testers would constantly collide to get access to the environment. Today, developers and testers can set up their own private sandboxes in minutes—without unnecessary IT intervention. Developers and testers can complete their work efficiently in a modern code-to-production workflow, and the IT department can focus on core business services.
- Patching – Again, instead of taking days or weeks to build out a test environment for testing patches (or simply not test patches at all), self-service automation allows a production clone environment to be stood up in minutes. Patches can then be tested and rolled out immediately, minimizing security incidents and reducing business risk.
- E-discovery – The need to rapidly access data for legal discovery is growing every year. In some cases, data must be produced in compliance with legal mandates and regulations. Next-generation data protection not only makes data immediately available, it reduces the time and cost formerly needed to access that data.
Other use cases include automated backup verification through test restores, DR plan testing to ensure business continuity, and a non-production source for analytics and reporting.
These use cases transform backup from an expensive form of data center insurance to an asset that can be used for needed purposes.
How Logicalis delivers next-generation data protection
Next-generation data protection is a part of the digital transformation journey. Using the Extensible IT framework, Logicalis enables digital transformation by making it easier to deploy new business services, whether they’re on site or in the cloud. Data is consistently available across platforms, giving you the agility to move on a dime.
To help you get there, Logicalis offers consulting and advisory services with unbiased advice so you can choose the best next-generation data protection solution from among our many world-class vendors. Our technical consultants and engineers provide an array of professional services focused on your needs, and our Managed Services team can provide day-to-day management of deployed extensible technology and services, standardized on a service-management platform.
Upcoming blog posts will feature more about next-generation data protection solutions, so register here so you don’t miss anything.
In the meantime, learn more about next-generation data protection and data storage and management.
Bill Mansfield is a Solution Architect for Logicalis US specializing in data protection and availability.