This document discusses considerations for a cloud backup solution. It notes that traditional on-premise backup solutions can be costly due to data growth requiring constant hardware upgrades. A cloud backup service offers utilities pricing that can save up to 40% over traditional approaches by paying for only what is used. It also eliminates capacity planning issues and vendor lock-in. The document recommends starting with a pilot project and analyzing data policies to ensure a smooth transition to cloud backup.

1. 1
What should a backup solution
address?

2. 2

3. 3
Areas for consideration

4. 4
How to control costs
With average annual data growth running at around 40%, the traditional approach to backup
means more capital expenditure on servers, VTLs, tape libraries and software. Escalating
procurement of tapes, maintenance and support contracts all add to a bigger management
headache.
Research shows that the vast majority of firms admit they
do not know what backup costs.
What you should be looking to achieve is shifting IT focus
back on to the project that make a difference, store your
data on appropriate tiers, and pay for what you use not
what you forecast.
Take advantage of utility pricing to save up to 40% over traditional approaches.

5. 5
Dealing with capacity issues
Getting your forecast for requirements up to 3 years in advance is often more luck than
judgement. Too much and you have overpaid, too little and your storage array or VTL
fills up or you run out of tapes.
Often it leads to quick fixes, you may have to
tactically expire data early just to create space and
it turns into an ongoing headache. Chances are
you will be going back to buy more capacity at
some point.
Why should capacity be your issue? Why not pay for what you use regardless of
whether your data grows or shrinks.

6. 6
Breaking vendor stranglehold
Vendors are very keen to keep you in a re-fresh stranglehold, why wouldn’t they?
They have been making hay for decades thanks to the lack of
alternatives.
The cycle of refresh, end of life decisions means more Capital
Investment, another round of support contracts and is
estimated refresh projects take up to 20% of IT teams
time.
New technology or change means new skills and training,
maybe new employees. Then what to do about the legacy?
Can you honestly say your vendor has your interests in delivering a service at heart?

7. 7
What happens when the call comes?
Backup’s primary function is providing the ability to recover
from a disaster, and it is neither quick nor straightforward: in
fact, it’s sufficiently challenging that many organisations
simply bury their heads in the sand and don’t test DR.
An SLA is your insurance policy. When you do get a recovery
request you can be safe in the knowledge that this will be
dealt with.

8. 8
Strategy and a future roadmap
Cloud is where the market is going but many organisations believe it is just for start-
ups with little on-premise infrastructure. Many are also unsure if a cloud solution will
work for them and if it did where we would even start.
The approach is a key step and making sure that the right solution is put in place not
just for the present but for the future.

9. 9
Why you should view backup as a
service

10. 10
A cloud backup service is not just the storage but includes software and hardware on a
pay per use basis and wrapped with a robust SLA.
Increase performance AND save money - Cloud backup is typically 10-40% cheaper than
the TCO of running in house (more on that later) as well as offering improved service
levels through high backup success rates and negligible long-term failures.
One less management overhead - One of the key benefits. You no longer need to worry
about managing the backup operation, reporting, data growth, capacity, kit refresh or
having enough tapes as the entire function becomes the supplier’s responsibility.
Speed of restore - Onsite appliances are the crucial piece of the cloud backup jigsaw,
providing restores as fast as your network can deliver them for anything up to a months
backups.
It’s where the market is going - More and more companies are realising that the
adoption of cloud allows them to concentrate on their core business by handing over
their IT needs to suppliers. It also enables you to move other services into the cloud
Disaster Recovery is the most obvious example, but there are others for which backup is
a stepping stone.

11. 11
How to start the journey

12. 12
Work out the business case so you can sell the idea internally
What are the financial implications on moving to the cloud? Consider in particular the
expiry of licences and equipment write-downs – you may need to get some budget for
the latter.
Start with a pilot
The beauty of backup is that you can run two processes in parallel. Test cloud backup on
at least part of your environment before taking the plunge.
Analyse your data and make sure your policies are appropriate
Storing data unnecessarily means incurring cost you can do without, and this applies in
the cloud just as it does with proprietary solutions.
Work out what you are going to do with your legacy data
Retaining your legacy data is an important consideration, but so is minimising costs.
Realise those cost savings!
Once cloud backup is live, get after the savings by decommissioning backup servers and
tape libraries and freeing up datacentre space. Terminate hardware and software
maintenance and tape storage agreements. Redeploy staff.

13. 13
About 4sl

14. 14
About 4sl
 Founded 2007
 Head Office in London with operations in USA, Benelux, Germany and India
 Specialists in backup services for larger SMB & enterprise clients
 We employ more accredited engineers in the leading backup software
technologies than any other independent European firm
 Clients include several FTSE100 and Fortune Global 500 companies
 Consulting clients include Barclays, Symantec, Commvault, Sky, UBS
 Managed Services clients include HP, Investec, Betfair, Trafigura, Kennedys,
Abellio, Allianz

15. 15
4sl by Numbers
15
FTSE 100
clients
Presence
UK, Benelux,
Germany, USA &
India
24/7managed
service as standard
99.87%
backup success SLA
performance (Q3 14)
24,000+
servers under
management
90+
Consultants
7
years old
4PB+
under management

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We've been privileged to work with:

17. 17
Thank you
We would be happy to discuss your strategy and
objectives in more detail
sales@4sl.com