Olixir Technologies Mobile DataVault “Backup-to

FastRestore SE System
New Solution Challenges the Restore time of ANY Tape Drive
Case Study — SECUDE IT Security GmbH
Global Manufacturer of IT Security Software Replaces Tape with Fast, High-Capacity Disk
Drive-Based Solution for Data Backup to Save Time and Increase Reliability
Background
Secude IT Security GmbH is a leading global manufacturer of standard IT security software based on
certificates and smartcards. The Swiss-based company has branches in Zurich, Switzerland and Darmstadt,
Germany. Secude’s high-quality IT security, smartcard management, and Single Sign-On solutions optimally
protect electronic business processes, increase user acceptance, and significantly reduce costs.
The Problem — Tape Was Slow, Bulky, Unreliable, and Expensive
Like many of today’s large corporations, the amount of data accumulating on Secude’s servers on a daily basis
mandated daily server backups, using up to six tapes per day. As the physical amount of the data increased,
Secude found itself becoming increasingly frustrated with issues plaguing their DLT tape-based backup system.
“Backing up our data to tape was slow, and we often had tape drives go bad, resulting in server downtime and
missing backups,” explained Beat Scholl, Senior Solution Engineer at Secude. “So it was tedious to analyze the
problems with the tape drives and solve them within a reasonable amount of time. But what really bothered me
was the lack of speed.”
In addition to the physical size of the tapes, which took up an enormous amount of space in the company’s safe,
Scholl noted that the tape technology was expensive and expansion was limited. “As we looked for a better
solution to our data backup requirements, we found that the available tape-based systems did not suit our
needs. We found them to be expensive, data capacities were limited and the drives were not expandable. If we
needed more capacity in the future, we would have to buy a new, expensive tape drive.”
“And the tape drives simply can’t match the speed of an external hard disk,” Scholl added. “I was looking for a
fast, high-capacity solution for our backup needs”.
The Solution — Olixir’s FastRestore SE System Using Durable and Blazing-Fast Hard Drives
for Data Backup and Archival
After extensively research the variety of backup solutions available, Scholl chose Olixir’s FastRestore SE
Backup and Disaster Recovery system. “The sexiest feature is the hot-pluggable chassis and the tremendous
speed of backup and restore operations,” Scholl said.
“The ATA interface will be the same in the future, but the size of the disk will keep growing. In case we need
more storage we can either daisy-chain the chassis or exchange the media with newer and bigger drives. And,
with the plug-and-play Olixir drives, the data is portable to any computer without the need of a tape drive, which
makes them usable for other needs.”
To meet its challenging backup requirements, Secude purchased the FastRestore SE system and an additional
15 portable drives for a total of 20 250-GB drives. The system was connected to a Dell PV770N Network
Attached Storage device running Windows Storage Server 2003.
Impact — Easy Installation, 68% Reduced Backup Time, Restoration of Files in Seconds
Easy Installation —Using the Firewire interface, Olixir’s FastRestore SE Backup and Disaster Recovery
system was quickly and easily connected to Secude’s NAS device. “The implementation was easy and the
system was up and running from the first day onward,” explained Scholl. As Scholl dealt with troubleshooting a
minor software bug unrelated to the FastRestore SE system, he noted, “What excited me most was that Olixir
never told me ‘not our problem.’ I could always count on their support and got everything I needed in the
shortest amount of time.”
Reduced Backup Time — Taking advantage of the speed of hard drive-based system versus tape, Scholl
reported that he performs full backups each day following the grandfather-father-son principle and does not
make any incremental backups. ”What, in old times, used to take sometimes more than 12 hours is now
completed in 3.5 hours,” stated Scholl.
Fast Data Restoration — Again, Scholl highlighted the high performance and reliability characteristics of the
FastRestore SE system over tape-based technology. “If I need to accomplish a restore, it takes me longer to go
to the safe to get the disk drive than it takes to actually get the data from the disk,” he said.
Integrating the Olixir Mobile DataVault FastRestore SE Backup and Disaster Recovery system provides users
the following benefits:
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Restore time of files decreased by over 2500%
Backup time reduced by over 70% from that of tape drives
Up-front cost savings of $12,000 or 50% over tape
Sharp reduction of future investment: “Infinitely expandable” with higher-capacity drives
Also expandable via daisy-chain of chassis
Installed quickly (about 1/8 the time of tape): Plug-and-play with USB 2.0 or Firewire
Decreased media required because Olixir portable drives have large 250 GB/500 GB capacity (other
capacities are available from Olixir)
Two to three magnitudes more reliable recording compared to tape (and no headaches with tensioning,
degradation of tapes, and cleaning)
No software switch necessary; compatible with Veritas Backup Exec 9.0+
Three-year warranty, compared to the typical one year that most off-the-shelf IT hardware products offer
Mobile DataVault Hard Drives – Reliable
Olixir’s drives are shock protected to 1200G, offering over 425% more shock protection than other popular 3.5inch external hard drives. This industry-best shock protection makes the drive so durable it can survive
accidental drops and easily handle the small knocks of daily insertion and removal from its 5.25-inch docking
bay chassis. Laboratory testing shows that this solution provides breakthrough durability, which is a leading
cause of disk drive failures as cited by hard drive manufacturers. Olixir’s extremely low warranty rate further
confirms the higher level of reliability afforded by using shock protection. Olixir backs its products with three
years of warranty protection, compared to just one year for most tapes and other external hard drives.
Olixir President Darshan Shah states, “Until now, no other disk drive solution could completely replace the
function of tape for backup and disaster recovery because disk drives were too fragile to be rotated daily and
transported for offsite archival. Our patent-pending shock protection technology changes that. This incredible
level of shock protection does not compromise the compact form factor of our portable drives. These drives are
handheld and over 40% smaller than most other 3.5-inch external hard drives that have no shock protection.
With our technology, we make high-capacity 3.5-inch ATA drives truly portable, which is a key requirement to
replacing tape with disk drives. By using these high-capacity portable hard drives and high data transfer rate
interfaces, we are able to address the following biggest concerns in backup: reliability, capacity, performance,
ease of use, and affordability.”
Resources:
For a report on how Olixir’s Mobile DataVault 3DX stacks up against more than 35 other popular external and
portable drives, please call (800) 719-0595 ext. 101, and ask for “The Optimal External Storage Survey”.

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