Donaldsons Abandons Tape for Remote Data Backup
134-Year Old Property Agency Chooses DataFort for Secure Remote Storage System
Release date: 1 July 2003
DataFort, provider of effortless off-site data back-up, today announced that Donaldsons – the leading property consultancy – has selected the company’s award-winning service. The company’s eight UK offices now back- up their entire days work every night to DataFort’s fire-, flood- and theft-proof high security data centre.
Donaldsons is one of the UK’s most thriving property businesses, specialising in three main areas – retail, consulting and corporate. It dates back to 1869 when it was founded by Henry Donaldson to manage residential property in North London. With the town centre initiatives of the 1950s, it became a nationa l concern and today has nearly 500 staff providing a comprehensive range of property services.
“Our ever-expanding customer base generates mountains of computer data every day,” explains Stephen Mayhew, Donaldsons’ IT Manager. “Traditionally, members of staff in each office – that’s Birmingham, Bristol, Cheltenham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, London
and Manchester – had to change their backup tapes every day so that we could schedule a back-up of their data to tape each night. But this was an administrative hassle, heightened by the fact that we do not have IT support staff at every location. To say nothing of the fact that tape is known to degrade over time – it is not a reliable medium.”
To address all of these issues, Donaldsons’ selected DataFort 3.0, the award-winning off-site back-up system. Launched in March, DataFort 3.0 is an award-winning service that combines easy-to- use software with highly secure server space, rentable at competitive monthly rates. Combined with a fast internet connection, this is a disaster recovery and back-up system that leaves tape and other mediums in the dark.
“Our business moves with the times – and has done so for over 100 years,” exclaims Simon Pinder, Donaldsons’ Director of Information Systems. “Any technology that makes our lives easier and our service more productive and reliable is worthy of consideration.”
“According to the National Archives & Records Administration in Washington, 93% ofbusinesses that suffer more than 10 days of system downtime will file for bankruptcy within one year,” says Marcie Terman, Business Development Director for DataFort. “A
frightening statistic but one which can be managed if the right tools are in place. In this area of technology, prevention is better than cure.”
ABOUT DATAFORT
DataFort provides dependable secure off-site computer information storage with a focus on functionality and convenience for the end user. The company was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Guildford, UK and New York, USA. It’s software and services are used by thousands of businesses worldwide - ranging from small SMEs and schools through to quoted companies and local government. Every hour of every day someone, somewhere backs up with DataFort.
CONTACTS
Jill Sutcliffe
T: +44 (0) 1483 872 052
E: jill.sutcliffe@datafort.co.uk