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ironclad protection

From STORAGE Magazine Vol 7, Issue 1 - February 2007

Enterprise Group is committed to continuous data protection from Iron Mountain and Backup Direct, with electronic vaulting services protecting internal and client data against disaster

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.

While many organisations back up company data at the end of each day without fail, 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 around £1 billion in mortgages and loans per annum and employs more than 100 staff at its North London headquarters. "As a provider of business to business services, our customers rely on us to ensure that our systems support their business - no matter what," says Matthew Cramer, head of IT at Enterprise Group.

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 in the event
of such a catastrophe. Although this covered the physical side of operations, Cramer recognised the need to ensure that electronic company data would 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 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, such as 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," explains 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.

The company singled out Backup Direct to provide Iron Mountain Digital's Server Electronic Vaulting service to ensure continuous backup of crucial company information. The service constantly and automatically backs up the company's data on Iron Mountain Digital's own servers, as well as at Enterprise's disaster recovery premises.

Were a disaster to 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 on to physical media.
Not only can Cramer access backup data online, but it is also automatically saved on to 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," adds 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 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 would have meant a trip to the external storage location to access the appropriate tape and download the data - a process that could have taken anything up to five hours.

It's not just peace of mind that Iron Mountain Digital's services bring to Enterprise and its customers; they also enable 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.

"We can't put a value on our data; it's priceless," Cramer concludes. "Losing it would not only affect our business, but would have a huge impact on all of our customers. 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." ST