Data Protection Resources: Whitepapers & Articles

Whitepapers

Disk-to-Disk Online Backup Overview
Offering complete automation and immediate restores, disk-to-disk online backup is simple, secure, and reliable. Quelling concerns associated with self-managed data protection – including equipment costs and maintenance, disaster recovery readiness, regulatory compliance, and more – AmeriVault’s online data backup and recovery services offer quick and simple service setup, unparalleled security, and redundancy on several levels.

Online Backup Vs. Tape
Disk-to-Disk (D2D) online data backup is more reliable, faster, and more secure than tape for backups, storage, and recovery. With no capital equipment costs, maintenance, or labor commitment – not to mention tape failure – AmeriVault’s online, offsite data protection services offer significant advantages over tape.

Backup Essential Guide: Data Backup Solution Purchase Considerations
There are many factors that make the choice for data backup difficult.  To determine the most beneficial and practical solution, businesses must weigh needs and resources - and then counterbalance total cost of ownership.  This whitepaper makes the decision a little easier by discussing each major purchase consideration and the characteristics of an ideal backup solution.

Backup Essential Guide: Tape Backup Purchase Considerations
Even today, tape is the most widely used backup medium.  According to the Enterprise Strategy Group, over 70% of survey respondents use tape alone or tape combined with a disk-based solution.  Perhaps because of existing infrastructure, perhaps because of habit, IT departments continue to use tape backup in spite of several widely-accepted issues and disadvantages.  This whitepaper analyzes the characteristics of tape backup and discusses how tape backup stacks-up against ten purchase considerations. (Registration Required)

Backup Essential Guide: Virtual Tape Library (VTL) Purchase Considerations
Virtual Tape Libraries (VTLs) feature an interface that provides the familiar feel of a tape-based solution while delivering the benefits of disk-based backup and recovery.  Allowing the continued utilization of existing backup software / infrastructure, VTLs can backup to tape, hard disk, or a combination of storage media.  This whitepaper analyzes the characteristics of virtual tape libraries, discussing how VTLs stack-up against ten purchase considerations.  (Registration Required)

Backup Essential Guide: In-House Disk-to-Disk (D2D) Purchase Considerations
While disk is widely regarded as the fastest and most reliable backup medium, its adoption rate is relatively low because cost has been an inhibitor for many companies.  Over the past few years, though, disk has gained traction because of the continued decline in the costs of disk and bandwidth.  This whitepaper analyzes the characteristics of in-house disk-to-disk (D2D) backup solutions, discussing how in-house disk stack-up against ten purchase considerations.  (Registration Required)

Backup Essential Guide: Online Backup Service Purchase Considerations
In addition to the standard purchase criteria for a backup solution - including recovery objectives, cost, and more - the service and service provider must also be scrutinized when considering online backup.  It is truly a critical error to assume all online backup services and providers are the same.  This whitepaper not only covers how remote online data backup services stack-up against the ten major purchase considerations for any backup solution, but also provides valuable tips for selecting a service provider.  (Registration Required)

Backup Essential Guide: Out-Tasking Data Backup Vs. In-House Solutions
Managed (out-tasked) online backup offers advantages that in-house solutions just can't deliver.  One of the most obvious benefits is the freedom from hardware and software sourcing, procurement, installation, labor, and maintenance.  This whitepaper analyzes out-tasked backup and in-house solutions, from cost to features.  (Registration Required)

Case Studies

Kraft Group Case Study (PDF)
Industry: Manufacturing / Sports Entertainment - “AmeriVault has changed the way we address data protection. We have offsite backup with on-demand restore capability in less time than we devoted to tape backup.”

Tofias PC Case Study (PDF)
Industry: CPA / Finance & Insurance - “Before using AmeriVault services, we found tape backup to be unsecure and to have a higher likelihood of failure due to the inherent sensitivity of tape. Now, the backup and restore process is much faster than tape, it’s secure and much easier to backup multiple servers at each of our offices.”

Harford County Public Schools Case Study (PDF)
Industry: Education - “This is by far the best solution we’ve ever had for backup.”

HAR-CO Maryland Federal Credit Union Case Study (PDF)
Industry: Finance / Credit Unions - “We can’t risk tape failure. We just can’t be in the position where data is inaccessible so we have to be proactive. After researching many vendors for our data protection solution, AmeriVault’s service was the most secure and easy to use.”

Industry Briefs

Insurance & Financial Industry Brief (PDF)
In addition to the typical challenges associated with corporate data management, financial firms must also fulfill the compliance regulations regarding data contingency and recovery plans set forth by NASD 3510, NYSE 446, Sarbanes-Oxley, and Gramm-Leach-Bliley, among others.

Legal Industry Brief & Case Study (PDF)
“Our partners realized that securely storing our data off site was a necessity,” says Davidson and Grannum, LLP’s IT Director. “Now, with the AmeriVault service, online backup and offsite protection automatically occur and I don’t have to worry about tapes or tape drives failing.”

Healthcare Industry Brief (PDF)
Data is the kind of asset that’s easy to store and forget. That is, until you need to retrieve it. With regulations such as HIPAA to take into consideration, organizations are now obligated to be proactive in creating compliant data backup and storage processes.

Compliance

Backup: Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance (PDF)
AmeriVault’s data backup services fulfill the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as they relate to record retention, records production, internal controls, and record alteration and destruction.

Backup: HIPAA Compliance (PDF)
AmeriVault’s data backup services fulfill the requirements of the Health Information Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA), including data integrity, authentication, contingency planning, and access and audit controls as they relate to electronic Protected Health Information.

Backup: FINRA (NASD & NYSE) Compliance (PDF)
NASD 3510 and NYSE Rule 446 require members’ business continuity and contingency plans to include procedures to satisfy obligations to clients in the event of an emergency or outage. A key component to any business continuity plan, AmeriVault’s data backup services fulfill the requirements of NASD and NYSE related to business continuity planning.

Email Archiving: Compliance Overview (PDF)
Learn how AmeriVault-EM satisfies various compliance mandates by reading AmeriVault's Email Archiving Compliance Guide.

Email Archiving: FINRA (NASD, NYSE) (PDF)
AmeriVault-EM's email and instant message archiving services address the requirements of FINRA (NASD 3010, Supervision and NASD 3110, Books and Records).  Read more about how AmeriVault’s email archiving services satisfy FINRA (NASD and NYSE) (PDF).

Email Archiving: SEC 17a-4 Compliance (PDF)
AmeriVault-EM's email and instant message archiving services address the requirements of SEC 17a-4 (17CFR 240.17a-4).  Read more about how AmeriVault’s email archiving services satisfy SEC 17a-4 (PDF).

Service Brochures

AmeriVault Corporate Overview (PDF)
Managed offsite, online data protection solutions: backup and recovery, replication, high availability, and data archiving services.

Online Data Backup Services: AmeriVault-AV (PDF) & AmeriVault-EV (PDF)
AmeriVault’s two levels of online backup services are distinguished by the options of agent-less operation and replication to another facility 1,000 miles away from AmeriVault’s primary site.

• AmeriVault-AV (PDF) – AmeriVault’s premier data backup solution, featuring agent-less installation, replication to another world-class datacenter for additional disaster recovery readiness, optional continuous data protection (CDP), and more.
• AmeriVault-EV (PDF) – An economy-class backup service providing immediate restores while ensuring regulatory compliance.

Hosted Recovery & Data Replication Services: RestartIT (PDF)
Several high availability services are available, providing hosted recovery with rack space, data replication, automatic fail-over, and more.  Real-time replication is available as a hosted service to ensure continuous data protection and high-availability.

Data Archiving Services: AmeriVault-DV & AmeriVault-DG (PDF)
AmeriVault Tiered Storage services offer quick and easy data archiving while providing premium levels of security and redundancy.  Two services and price points are available to meet your specific data archiving and lifecycle requirements.

Email Archiving Services: AmeriVault-EM (PDF)
Including Email & IM Archiving - as well as Email Continuity - AmeriVault-EM is a cost-effective, hardware-free message management solution.  Ensuring compliance and facilitating e-discovery, AmeriVault-EM provides automated, policy-based email archiving.