ENTERPRISE GROUP COUNTS ON CONTINUOUS DATA PROTECTION FROM BACKUP DIRECT

Business continuity plans are a vital part of any organisation's day-to-day activities. A key consideration is just how quickly you can get your company back up and running should the worst happen.

Whilst many organisations religiously back up company data at the end of each day using traditional tape-based systems, few realise that due to the nature of such systems there may be some degree of loss should their data need to be restored.

Enterprise Group is one of the largest providers of services for mortgage networks and brokers in the UK, specialising in non-standard mortgages, secured loans, bridging finance and commercial loans. Founded in 1995, the group originates circa £1 billion in mortgages and loans per annum and employs over 100 staff at its North London headquarters.

Matthew Cramer, head of IT at Enterprise Group said, "As a provider of business to business services, our customers rely on us to ensure that our systems support their business - no matter what."

In 2004, Enterprise undertook an extensive review of how the business would cope in the event of a disaster putting its working premises and IT infrastructure out of action.

The company created a disaster recovery centre for 20 staff outside of London, which could support the day-to-day running of the business should the worst happen. Whilst this covered the physical side of operations, Cramer recognised the need to ensure that electronic company data must also be made available and that it had to be as up to date as possible.

Historically, Enterprise had used a tape-based backup solution from Veritas to protect company data. However, the data was only backed up at the end of each day and stored on tape at headquarters, where the backed up information was still vulnerable to a location-based disaster, like a fire or a flood.

"Our business runs a bespoke IT system where client cases are constantly created, worked on or updated. If you only back up once a day, you can never really be sure just how much information you would lose if you needed to restore the data," explained Cramer. "I realised that continuous backup is an absolute must for our business if we are to maintain the confidence that our clients have in our service."

As a result, Enterprise turned to online backup specialist, Backup Direct, and Iron Mountain Digital, the technology arm of Iron Mountain Incorporated for assistance. It selected Backup Direct to provide Iron Mountain Digital's Server Electronic Vaulting service to ensure continuous backup of crucial company information. The service continuously and automatically backs up the company's data on Iron Mountain Digital's own servers as well as at Enterprise's disaster recovery premises.

Should a disaster occur, Cramer is safe in the knowledge that he can restore company data via an online control panel linked to Iron Mountain Digital's systems. The web interface gives easy access to data - any time and from anywhere - allowing backup data to be electronically transmitted or restored onto physical media.

Not only can Cramer access backup data online, but it is also automatically saved onto Media Restore Servers at Enterprise's disaster recovery premises and is accessible in just a couple of hours.

"It's all very well backing up your company data but if you're storing it onsite you have to ask yourself whether you'll be able to access it if your premises are out of action," explained Cramer. "The fact that our company data is stored in two separate locations acts as a failsafe if the worst does happen."

Iron Mountain Digital's services can also help individual users. For example, if an employee accidentally deletes a file, Cramer can easily log on to the system and retrieve the relevant information fast, without even having to leave his desk. If this had happened in the past, it meant a trip to the external storage location to access the appropriate tape and download the data - a process which could take anything up to five hours.

It's not just the peace of mind that Backup Direct's services bring to Enterprise and its customers but it also enables the company to satisfy the industry regulators. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Regulatory Association of Mortgage Packagers (RAMP) both require all regulated companies to have tried and tested processes in place to minimise disruption in the event of an unexpected disruption to normal service.

Cramer added, "We can't put a value on our data, it's priceless. Losing it would not only affect our business but would have a huge impact on all of our customers. Backup Direct and Iron Mountain Digital's services provide us with an advanced backup system helping us ensure that our data is secure, regardless of what might happen."

About Backup Direct
Backup Direct is a leading supplier of online data backup services for UK business. Backup Direct delivers: automated data backup, secure off-site storage, archiving and guaranteed fast data recovery. Clients receive reliable and secure data protection to maximise business continuity in case of disaster. Backup Direct's combination of business focus, leading technology, operational systems, SLAs and committed support combine to ensure simple, secure and affordable data protection. Founded in 2002, Backup Direct has more than 2000 UK business clients protecting over 30 terabytes of customer data. It is a leading Tier One provider of Iron Mountain Digital Services in the UK. Visit the company's website at www.backupdirect.net or call 0800 0 789 437.

About Iron Mountain Digital
Iron Mountain Digital is the world's leading provider of data backup/recovery and archiving software and services. The technology arm of Iron Mountain Incorporated offers a comprehensive suite of data protection and e-records management software and services to thousands of companies around the world, directly and through a world-wide network of channel partners. Iron Mountain Digital is based in Southborough, Mass. with European headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany.