|
 Unlocking
The Data Vault
By Kevin
Ferguson
Forbes.com - When it comes to safeguarding their precious data, corporate
notebook users are more likely to shove their valuables under the mattress
of their hard drive than lock them away in a secure data vault.
The smart money says that this practice will change dramatically over the
next three years, as businesses begin to realize that as much as 70% of
their day-to-day information--things like sales orders and contact
managers--resides not in any central server but on their remote computers.
And until they do, many companies will leave themselves exposed for at least
24 hours at a time, waiting for data uploads from employees in the field.
So-called "data vaulting," the online backup of encrypted data over the
Internet or private networks, has been proffered by some software suppliers
as the best security device since the padlock. But is it the key? Fewer than
5% of 30 million remote computer users now think so, choosing instead to
back up their data on removable Zip drives, magnetic tape, floppies or
nothing at all, several industry analysts agree. That attitude had better
change.
What will change notebook users' minds? "Maybe when they lose their
laptop," says Glenn Gaudet, director of product marketing for Connected
Corp, a Framingham, Mass.-based supplier of backup software. "It's not like
losing your wallet. When you lose your wallet, you can call the credit card
companies. When you lose your laptop with everything on the hard drive, whom
are you going to call?"
"It's not like losing your wallet. When you lose your laptop with
everything on the hard drive, whom are you going to call?"
Other users may refuse to use online backup until Internet security is
improved--an excuse dismissed out-of-hand by data vaulting customers.
"Connected already uses 64-bit encryption," says Jay Corinha, director of IT
business planning at GTE Internetworking, a division of GTE Corp. (GTE). "We
have the U.S. Treasury Department's web site here, for goodness sake. Do you
think we'd take chances?"
For most corporate workers, it may not be a matter of being unconvinced
but uninformed. Typically, businesses focus only on backing up their central
file servers, ignoring their remote users altogether. Even when an IT
department bothers to enact policies for remote users, those policies are
seldom enforced.
"There's an exposure that corporations have," concludes Mark Nicolette,
research director at Gartner Group, Stamford, Conn. "The vast majority of
corporations feel they are covered because they tell their users to put
critical data on the file server. But users can't follow policy."
When remote users do back up their data, they are usually "doing it on
their own, rather than because of any corporate dictum," says Jack Gold, an
analyst with Meta Group, a consulting firm, in Westboro, Mass. "What scares
me is how much data resides on these PCs. There's a huge liability. That's
real dollars."
Some companies, such as enterprise-software maker PeopleSoft (PSFT), have
chosen not to gamble that money. "Our problem is we're 95% mobile," says
Diane Wimmer, manager of user support services at PeopleSoft, the $1.3
billion software vendor based in Pleasanton, Calif. "Our people are moving
around now with four gigabyte to six gigabyte drives. There's a huge need
for backup."
With 5,700 mobile employees, PeopleSoft's data exposure was great. So it
signed on with Connected. Unlike most Connected customers, PeopleSoft was
still not convinced that sending its information over the Internet was the
way to go, and chose instead to run Connected's software over a private
network.
Despite the projected growth of the data vaulting industry--from less
than $50 million this year to as much as $500 million by late 2002,
according to Meta Group--most corporations don't entrust their valuable data
to outsiders. Toshiba America, which launched a beta version of its online
backup service for laptop users in mid-1997, has fewer than 1,000 corporate
users, according to Dan Ludwick, director of services marketing. "It's a
small number compared with our installed base," he acknowledges. Toshiba
America recently shipped its 5 millionth notebook PC from its factory in
Irvine, Calif.
Just the same, Toshiba America is building on its relationship with San
Diego, Calif.-based online services provider AtBackup to increase both its
corporate and consumer presence. Several weeks ago Toshiba began giving its
online backup offering marquis exposure on the front page of its web site.
To encourage online backup, service providers know they must automate the
backup procedure as much as possible. In most cases, this means placing an
"agent" on the user's computer that detects any changes made to the hard
drive. Whenever the user goes online, say, to send E-mail, the hard drive
silently sends the latest changes to an offsite computer for backup. If, for
example, a user were to back up a spreadsheet at noon and later change 12
cells, only those 12 cells would be updated when he or she went online
again. Furthermore, the changed data are typically compressed before the
user goes online, to minimize transmission time.
The ability to compress data offline and use such "agents" speeds the
backup process noticeably. "Then again, if you create a new PowerPoint
[presentation], you've changed a lot of data. So, it's hard to escape
[slowed transmission times]," notes Gartner Group's Nicolette. Yet, online
backup remains an effective, essential tool, says GTE Internetworking's
Corinha. "At 4:41 this morning, [my system started backing] up 5.5 megabytes
from a total file size of 65.6 megabytes. It finished in 10 minutes. That's
not bad."
Despite its strength as a top Internet Service Provider (ISP), GTE
Internetworking previously took a decidedly low technology approach to
backing up the data on the company's 2,000 remote hard drives. That changed
with the implementation of its "swamp drain" project.
"We had 120 guys collecting data from our [branch locations]," recalls
Corinha. "We found there was too much information left on the laptops. Users
were keeping too much information locally. We had to find a way to protect
that intellectual property. Now, if Billy Bob is on the road and gets run
over by a beer truck, we can still get his data even if he's holding on to
his laptop."
"If Billy Bob is on the road and gets run over by a beer truck, we can
still get his data even if he's holding on to his laptop."
For GTE Internetworking, the answer was also using Connected's online
backup service, known as Connected Online Backup. Considering that 70% of
its workers used laptops and that the company adopted a "never-close"
philosophy, GTE Internetworking needed to do something, he explains. The ISP
had considered supplying its corporate workers with Zip drives but decided
few employees would bother to back up their data. It also considered using
backup software products from Legato Systems (LGTO), but at the time those
solutions didn't have a remote client that compressed and encrypted data,
says Corinha.
Not wanting to miss similar opportunities, Legato late last year launched
its NetWorker Remote data vaulting product. Legato, a $143 million
enterprise software vendor based in Palo Alto, Calif., launched the service
as an extension of an earlier technology agreement with Stac Inc.(STAC).
Other customers and other suppliers continue to pour in. "We're riding
the crest of a tidal wave," proclaims John Amann, IBM's global services
manager for PC data vaulting. "The opportunity will grow in double digits
over the next three years." IBM's Business Recovery Services, one of the
world's three largest disaster recovery firms, began selling Connected's
technology under the IBM brand name last April.
Ironically, while it was consumers, not businesses, that made the
Internet a success, Connected failed to make much of its consumer offering.
Founded just over two years ago, Connected now generates 90% or more of its
$4 million annual revenue from corporate accounts.
"Over 70% of our customers are corporate mobile users. We expect they'll
be making a lot of requests for this," says Charles Tebele, chairman of RCS
Computer Experience, a six-store New York retailer. "It's the ideal method
of backup." |
