Asigra automates remote-office backups

Network World - Asigra Inc. this week is launching a version of its backup and recovery software that businesses can use for remote offices.
Asigra is making its enterprise-level Televaulting product available to organizations for backing up data on dispersed WANs or LANs. Previously, Asigra provided the software to service providers.
The Televaulting for Enterprises software collects data from branch offices that are often without the IT staff or infrastructure to back up data on their own. By using Televaulting for Enterprises, a customer can eliminate unnecessary backup infrastructures, license fees for backup software, tape costs and training of local staff.
"We've saved on the backup software and the tapes themselves, as well as time for our office managers," says Jim Miskovsky, director of IT for law firm Fischer & Phillips in Atlanta.
"We wanted to centralize our backups, and we wanted to know that backups were done each evening," says Miskovsky, whose law firm chose Asigra's Televaulting for Enterprises to back up 1.5TB of data, 12 regional offices and a number of lawyers with laptops. Before using the product, Fischer & Phillips had office managers back up their regional offices with Veritas Software Corp.'s Backup Exec and tape drives.
The software resides in a Linux, Windows or Solaris server in the data center. The server collects information from desktops, laptops, and file servers that are enabled with a Televaulting agent, called the DS-Client. The DS-Client sends changes to data to the DS-System located in the data center, compressed and encrypted over IP.
Asigra says it competes with traditional backup software from Computer Associates International Inc., Legato Systems and Veritas, and that the benefit of its technology comes from eliminating the need for backup software at each remote location. Other back-up services exist from startups such as Arsenal Digital Data Worldwide Inc., Connected Corp. and LiveVault Corp.
"A service provider could take that software and build a service around it, but an enterprise can use the same software for its own internal needs and charge back departments and remote offices for its use," says Mike Fisch, a senior analyst with Clipper Group.
The cost is based on the amount of data being backed up. An initial license of $56,000 covers 1TB. Subsequent terabytes can be licensed for $7,500.

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