IBM announced that Connected Work Place Solutions (CWPS) of Washington, D.C., the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), and KARIN Technology Holdings, LTD of Hong Kong are using data protection and recovery systems powered by IBM's Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) FastBack software.The software restores critical information from almost any data loss, whether it is caused by human error, software error, virus, hacker attack, or local or regional disaster.

IBM's TSM FastBack software provides rapid data recovery, data protection and improved business continuity across any enterprise, even when data resides outside managed servers and on remote networks. TSM FastBack provides a comprehensive backup and recovery capability that can perform unattended, reducing operational work load, providing nearly instant recovery, and ensuring data and business continuity in a cost-effective manner.

The new success stories illustrate growing customer interest in IBM TSM FastBack. They come just one year after IBM acquired and incorporated the technology of storage software producer FilesX Corporation into its established Tivoli TSM product family.

CWPS offers IPAA its Easy Data Protection service, powered by IBM TSM FastBack.

IBM and Connected Work Place Solutions (CWPS), a leading provider of information technology services for business and government, today announced an agreement under which CWPS has used IBM's TSM FastBack software to create an Easy Data Protection service for small and mid-sized organizations. The CWPS technology protects, restores, and secures data on- and off-site, reducing downtime and data-loss risks.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) has already realized the benefits of CWPS' Easy Data Protection service firsthand, when an inadvertent deletion wiped out critical information required to support an IPAA conference that was just weeks away. Fortunately, with Easy Data Protection, more than 600 gigabytes of IPAA data were continuously backed up and stored at the remote CWPS data center in Raleigh, NC.

When IPAA reported the incident to CWPS via an emailed trouble ticket, the help desk team took immediate action. Within 10 minutes, CWPS had restored the missing 50 files to the IPAA shared meeting directory, saving IPAA's staff weeks of effort to recreate their "lost" work.

"In an instant and the swift click of the wrong button, we were reminded of the importance of having a data-protection capability in our environment," said Therese McCafferty, Vice President of Administration for the IPAA. "Without the CWPS service, we would have been devastated by the accidental loss of the information and the potential resource burden of recreating this information for our event."

"This advanced service offers an insurance policy for businesses," said Jason Waldrop, CWPS CEO. "Even when faced with emergency situations such as inclement weather, it minimizes disruption and maintains information availability so that the health of the business is protected."

CWPS' Easy Data Protection packages TSM FastBack with a server and storage repository and is installed at the customer site by CWPS staff. Using the Central Control Station, CWPS manages this backup and recovery remotely along with its help desk to provide its clients both an effective backup and the means to achieve a comprehensive recovery solution for Windows files, volumes, servers and email. TSM FastBack's remote replication capability is also used to maintain another copy of the client's data at a disaster recovery site where CWPS can provide recovery of an entire data center.

KARIN secures critical data with IBM TSM FastBack

KARIN Technology Holdings Ltd. (SIN:K29), a provider of diversified electronic components, IC application design and IT infrastructure technology with operations in China, Hong Kong and Singapore, also announced that it has successfully launched IBM's TSM FastBack data protection and recovery to improve its business continuity and efficiency.

Prior to introducing IBM TSM FastBack, KARIN Group endured a time-consuming, resources-draining process that took at least two days to recover critical data such as e-mail messages and attachments that had been accidentally deleted. With diversified operations in fast-paced markets, the lengthy process and loss of data had put KARIN's operational efficiency at stake.

With TSM FastBack to support its 160 end users, KARIN Group has reduced the time required for full data recovery from days to minutes across the organization, while reducing the risk of data loss between backups to nearly zero. For example, when emailed sales-quotation information was accidentally deleted, KARIN Group's IT staff was able to recover the data within 30 minutes using IBM TSM FastBack, allowing its sales team to quickly access the critical information.

"IBM's TSM FastBack has not only improved business continuity for our company, but has also helped to create a high level of commercial agility across the organization," said Mr. Allan Ng, Chief Technology Officer, KARIN Group. "We are able to dramatically reduce downtime due to data loss, and our IT department has dramatically improved recovery service levels by providing immediate response to business requests."