Cloud-based backup and online disaster recovery company Redstor, global leader in, recently hosted an event that examined the value of cloud and its implications for service providers and the modern enterprise.
The day covered a variety of topics, not least of which being market and opportunity, cloud integration and development and how organisations have leveraged Redstor technology to develop innovative solutions.
Redstor has been operating in the cloud space since 1999, before the term was invented and data became big. Its first back-up agent provided organisations with a reliable solution to their data recovery requirements and was followed by a second iteration in 2002, the Server Edition Backup Agent.
“At that point we had a D&L agent for laptops and desktops and the SE agent for servers, and both underwent continuous development until 2014,” explains Danie Marais, founder of Attix5 (the recently-acquired software division within Redstor.) “Challenges around complexity, legacy code and the ability to backup millions of files saw us introduce the Redstor Enterprise Server Edition (ESE) agent, allowing us to provide clients with a far richer resource.”
The Redstor Enterprise Server Edition (ESE) was a significant improvement on SE and can backup millions of files far more swiftly along with parallel backups, better encryption technology and the ability to backup Microsoft SQL and Microsoft Exchange.
“While maturing ESE we were working in parallel to develop our new agent called Keystone which is more robust, efficient and scalable,” says Marais. “It will include impressive feature sets that are ideally suited to the fast-paced market. It uses a modular based design with the ability to embed the software into other applications. It also allows for real-time diagnostics which can be used to identify trends, pick up issues and so much more. It hands the enterprise the keys to a wealth of data that is not only secure, but easily accessible.”
The Keystone agent will transform the cloud backup and disaster recovery landscape with a design that addresses many of the issues prevalent in the market today. Both the Keystone agent and ESE agent are capable of protecting millions of files on a robust framework with faster backups, VSS SQL and VSS Exchange along with REST API integration capabilities.
“New features called VirtualRestore and LiveRecovery allow you to drag and drop files from your backup repository to a local drive and use them immediately without having to wait hours to restore a lost database,” says Marais, “This capability effectively drops RTO to zero. Clients can also use VirtualRestore to browse their backups and extract bits of information from large files. Users can mount it as a virtual drive and extract a single mailbox from an Exchange database, for example. No need to do a complete restore, just take the bits you need.”
At the event, Phillip de Bruyn, product manager at Redstor, spoke about the company’s roadmap and the importance of listening more closely to customers while providing richer feedback mechanisms.
“We have introduced a number of feedback channels that include partner events, road visits for product management, a partner portal, a pre-sales tool and well-trained technology account managers,” says de Bruyn. “We are going to pay closer attention to our FLIP philosophy that emphasises Fun, Learning, Integrity and Profit for both ourselves and our customers.”
Claude (Tai) Chesselet, joint MD of IronTree, was invited as guest speaker at the event. He spoke of how the organisation had worked closely with Attix5, recently purchased by Redstor, and developed a management portal that integrates seamlessly with the Redstor Backup Pro Software.
“The goal was to build a scalable volume business that targeted small to medium enterprises,” says Chesselet. “We develop technology to scale rather than relying on manpower and we sell backup, DRaaS, security and network managed services. As a result of this focus and our work with Redstor we have moved from a single product to becoming a business continuity company that offers a number of products.”
IronTree’s business model of a multi-tiered network with revenue share is unique and includes a hybrid internet facility where customers are called within 30 minutes of registration and processes integrated seamlessly. The company has focused on reducing or eliminating the traditional hoops that a customer has to jump through.
The responses from partners who attended the event were positive, showing a confidence in their partnerships with Redstor and a belief in a very promising future for both vendor, service provider and end customer.
“We are very pleased with the positive response from several of our customers and it was great to engage with them on a personal level. We are looking forward to future events like this where we can showcase some new features and services which will have been implemented based on feedback received from our customers,” concludes Marais.
