Backup Anytime

We got approval today from Savenet solutions to add them to the Irish online backup list. The Irish list is normally left as the opening page of this blog but is removed at present to allow the addition of Savenet. The backup list will be put back on front page position on Tuesday night. The information for Savenet is as follows.

Provider: Savenet Solutions
Backup Locations: Dublin
Software Used: Asigra
Biz Contact: Susan Dixon
Technical Contact: Lorcan Cunningham
Client Base: Ireland SME to Corporate

The purpose of the list is to assist web browsers in identifying Irish online backup providers who actually backup in Ireland. This list is important due to public preference and Data retention legislation.

This list is helpful as many companies not in Ireland present themselves in search results in a manner which infers an Irish presence and many online backup provider based in Ireland backup elsewhere to enable cost savings while failing to notify clients of their outside of jurisdiction data store.

The current list of Irish online backup providers backing up in Ireland is as follows:

arion.ie, backupanytime.com, databackup.ie, datahaven.ie, savenetsolutions.ie, shercom.com

The list is here http://backupanytime.com/blog/?p=91#comment-275 (please note the google docs spreadsheet will be reinstated on Tuesday night.)

What is an Irish online backup service?
Strictly speaking, an Irish online backup service is one which is based in Ireland and which backs up in Ireland. If you want to be pedantic you would exclude from this list multinational companies with an Irish base or those with no Irish client base.

So now we know what it is why is it so important?
If you are based in Ireland it is very important for a number of reasons

Data availability.
If you have a data communications problem (which often accompanies a data loss scenario) having your data thousands of miles away will not be conducive to rapid restore.

Support (local)
The nearer a supplier is to you (all other things being equal) the greater the support they can and will provide. You may not need much online backup support day to day but this will change when you have an outage and are under serious time constraints.

Support (general)
Most Irish online backup providers are small businesses and offer a very personal level of support. Multinational companies offering online backup commonly offer email only or help desk (web ticket) only support. This type of support may be OK for web hosting or email management but if you have a data loss situation at hand you will want to talk to real people promptly and have the facility for desk-side support and hand holding at every stage of the recovery process. Even if an international provider allows you to skip the ticketing system, a distant and non personal call centre with 99 juniors to 1 unavailable technician is not conducive to rapid, successful restore.

Compliance.
Depending on the legal entity of your organisation and the type of data you use, you may be required to retain your data in Ireland. Seek professional advice before backing up with a non Irish online backup provider if you are not sure.

Shipping.
If you have a large amount of data, a seed install may require shipping of encrypted data. The shorter and less complicated the secured shipment is the better. This may be used more than once as seed restore is not uncommon and is very advantages in a comms outage environment.

Compliance (future)
Data compliance requirements generally is becoming more strict. If you do manage to find an International provider who can somehow (and this is difficult to imagine) provide the same service as someone based in Ireland, there is every possibility that while this may be OK from a compliance perspective now, it could cause compliance issues later. Add to this that moving online backup providers is not as straightforward as changing utilities providers (you will be starting your archive anew with a new supplier) and you can see it is important to get it right from the outset.

We have provided a list of Irish online backup providers for your perusal.

List of Irish online backup providers.
This is a list of Irish based online backup providers backing up in Ireland. The list includes commercial and technical contact names along with details of the platform used and type of clients serviced.

It is imperative that you understand before you make a provider decision about the essential differences between backing up to a location potentially thousands of miles away and backing up to a a location which is in reach should you have a connectivity outage. Add to this the potential compliance benefits (if you are a commercial entity and your data pertains to clients) of backing up in Ireland and you can see the attraction of backing up with an Irish based online backup provider.

A cursory search in any search engine for Irish online backup providers can quickly become a complicated chore. The difficulty here is that while you may be searching for an Irish online backup company who backs up in Ireland, the search results may provide any or all of the following.

Irish online backup companies backing up outside of Ireland.
Non Irish companies backing up within Ireland
Non Irish companies backing up outside of Ireland but with Ireland in their web text
Non Irish backup companies with a web site hosted in Ireland
Non Irish companies with an Irish virtual office.

Presented here is a list of Irish online backup providers backing up in Ireland. Also provided are both business and technical contacts along with platform used and general client category.

So what next?
That up to you. Pick one. Talk to two or talk to them all.

arion.ie, backupanytime.com, databackup.ie, datahaven.ie, shercom.com