Internet Backup

Title : Internet Backup
Audience : Small business principals. Non technical with an interest in data backup.
User I.T. Knowledge 2/10
Source : Http://www.backupanytime.com/whitepaper.htm
Posted : Feb 07
Reviewed August 07
Updated n/a
Copyright : backupanytime original content.
Redistribution as is : No permission required (with credits)
Modification : With written permission from backupanytime.

Internet backup terminology background.
Internet backup is a commonly misused term for online backup. There are as of multiple advances in technology, some very important differences between modern commercial online backup and Internet backup. Most modern online backup systems include some important factors which distinguish them from traditional cheap and cheerful Internet backup. Plain Internet backup is common with free, no support backup options.
Internet backup has been around since effectively the Internet It involved simply sending a copy of data from one place to another over the Internet

Key difference between basic Internet backup and modern commercial online backup.
Most modern online backup providers offer significantly more than this. Sending data across the Internet in its purest form is called F.T.P. (file transfer protocol) and does not as standard offer any encryption of data to protect it or compression to reduce its size. You wouldn't knowingly do this with your critical data. Would you knowingly use free software or services to backup over the Internet If so, you may be less secure than you think.

Importance of online backup commercial service level
Modern Internet backup is called commercial remote-backup or commercial online-backup so if a company offers online backup and refers to Internet backup or offers free service, question it carefully Are they using phrases too loosely or are they intentionally or unintentionally misrepresenting themselves altogether. Even if you are offered encryption you should check out which type it is. Every level of encryption is eventually cracked so the industry standard is to increase the encryption levels as technology changes. This should be a standard service provided by your online backup company and should require no payment beyond your subscription.

Location, location, location.
Your intended online backup provider should tell you exactly where your data is kept.
Any remote-backup company you consider should have verifiable quality references from your region.
Your chosen backup company should be based in or have strong presence in your political location.
A good test of this is the ability to pay by cheque. If your provider accepts credit cards only this may be a good indicator that they have no clearing facility for payments from your region and this could be an indication of weak local presence.

In summary
You get what you pay for. Some products and services can be profitable for a provider when provided for free if th user will agree to view advertisements when using the system or to accept marketing emails from affiliate companies. Remote-backup is however wholly unsuited to this type of scenario because of the assistance required on inception and the critical one to one support requirement when you need to use it. Also of great importance is the ability of the provider to ensure confidentiality and security of your information. Any contract you enter in to should ensure you are not charged for encryption technology advances and that you do not have to request them.
If any intended provider uses the term “Internet backup”, establish weather he or she is a veteran of the business and is therefore just using original terminology or if there is any anomaly in their type of service versus the latest online backup systems available.

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