Released on: August 15, 2008, 3:06 am

Press Release Author: Databarracks

Industry: Computers

Press Release Summary: From Databarracks\' recent survey, it was revealed that
companies understand the importance of backing up their critical data, though the
processes they choose to employ are not very sound.

Press Release Body: The latest results from the Databarracks annual Backup and
Recovery survey indicate that overall, 91% of companies claim to be confident in
their backup solution. Upon further investigation, 74% of those who do not use
encryption or replication and do not take backups offsite are confident despite
skipping these steps. Furthermore, 67% still consider their backup solution to be
secure even though they do not keep or check backup logs and do not test their
restores to ensure that they are working properly.
Peter Groucutt, Managing Director at Databarracks says "the results of the survey so
far show that although most companies understand the importance of having business
continuity and disaster recovery plans in place, there seems to be a knowledge gap
when it comes to understanding the technologies that are currently available to
deliver reliable and fast recovery in the event of a system failure. These days it
is not enough to blindly trust that backups are being completed properly. Businesses
and the regulatory environment in which we all exist demand fast and reliable
recovery time objectives for IT systems. Such is the pace at which a modern company
transacts business these days that those who are without their IT for any great
length of time are losing serious money. Customers are also becoming a lot more
aware of the information that companies hold and are getting less and less forgiving
about delivery disruption, let alone the thought of their sensitive data being
transported in a an unencrypted and readable format."
The survey also reveals that 27% of companies' data loss is caused by human error,
26% from hardware failure, and 19% from software failure. Previous reports from 2006
indicated that hardware failure caused the majority of data loss at 61%, while human
error only accounted for 2%.
"This change in causes of data loss can possibly be attributed to improvements in
software and hardware resiliency in the last two years which has reduced the number
of hardware and software failures affecting computers, changing the way these
threats need to be addressed in business continuity and disaster recovery plans
moving forward," speculates Oscar Arean, Databarracks' Technical Support Manager.
The Data Health Check Survey is the largest and most comprehensive survey in the
industry focused purely on backup and recovery technologies and practices. So far,
it has been answered by 500 companies with strong representation across all industry
sectors including Banking and Finance, IT, Education, and Engineering. The data
gathered spans a variety of topics including virtualisation, business continuity
plans, restores, backup policies, data retention regulations, and other associated
areas.
The survey will remain open for participation on an ongoing basis and interim
reports will be released throughout the year with a detailed breakdown of the
results published annually. The first annual report will be published in February
2009. Companies who participate in the survey have their answers compiled into a
personalised report where their responses are benchmarked against all respondents
within the same particular industry, then compared to the overall results. All
results are anonymous and benchmarking reports are emailed automatically once the
survey has been completed. Anyone interested in participating in the Data Health
Check or viewing a sample report can do so online by visiting
www.databarracks.com/datahealthcheck .

About Databarracks
Databarracks is a leading provider of compliant, secure, and effective online backup
and data recovery services including cutting-edge Virtual Disaster Recovery. Based
in London, Databarracks manages data security and availability for thousands of
customers globally, offering unparalleled levels of service for companies of all
sizes and profiles. Comprehensive client support employing only the best software,
hardware and data centre infrastructure in existence is provided 24 hours a day, 365
days a year either online, on the phone, or on site. For further information on
Databarracks and the fully managed online backup and data recovery solutions we
provide, please visit our website at www.databarracks.com .




Web Site: http://www.databarracks.com

Contact Details: Arxcis House, 9 Park Hill, London, SW4 9NS

tel:+44(0)2031771910
0800 033 6633
fax:+44(0)870 922 0902
press@databarracks.com