Small Business Commerce Association’s Award Honors the Achievement

SAN FRANCISCO, July 17, 2009, Mirrored Storage has been selected for the 2009 Best of Business Award in the Data processing and preparation category by the Small Business Commerce Association (SBCA)

The Small Business Commerce Association (SBCA) is pleased to announce that Mirrored Storage has been selected for the 2009 Best of Business Award in the Data processing and preparation category.

The SBCA 2009 Award Program recognizes the top 5% of small businesses throughout the country. Using statistical research and consumer feedback, the SBCA identifies companies that we believe have demonstrated what makes small businesses a vital part of the American economy. The selection committee chooses the award winners from nominees based off statistical research and also information taken from monthly surveys administered by the SBCA, a review of consumer rankings, and other consumer reports. Award winners are a valuable asset to their community and exemplify what makes small businesses great.

About Small Business Commerce Association (SBCA)

Small Business Commerce Association (SBCA) is a San Francisco based organization. The SBCA is a private sector entity that aims to provide tactical guidance with many day to day issues that small business owners face. In addition to our main goal of providing a central repository of small business operational advice; we use consumer feedback to identify companies that exemplify what makes small business a vital part of the American economy.

SOURCE: Small Business Commerce Association

CONTACT:
Small Business Commerce Association
Email: Press@SBCAAwards.org
URL: http://www.SBCAAwards.org

CONTACT:

Mirrored Storage, Inc.
Email: sales@mirroredstorage.com
URL: http://MirroredStorage.com

I have been asked this many times. When I share my views as a use of laptops in and out of corporate environments for more than 20 years most Corporate IT professionals are shocked!  While working in any corporate environment my laptop contains critical, proprietary, confidential and mission critical information and NONE were ever backed up by anyone other than me.  This information included contracts, commitments on behalf of the company, revenue forecasts, customer data, etc, etc, etc.

Let’s discuss why a laptop backup software solution is absolutely required in the business organization world.  Laptops are prominent in most sizable enterprises today. The use of portable laptops has inflated by twofold, due to the ease of use, and portability, but this has also created other issues. But laptops are being used by employees of all levels both for in office use and also for remote or at home use. This has created difficulty for IT staff whose responsibility is the backup the information in a timely fashion.

Corporate IT personnel have a hard time backing up that confidential information on these laptops because of the laptops location, and often there is a lot of highly confidential information kept on these laptops. Most business organization IT departments are accustomed to backing up computers that have constant connection to the network. But, when it comes to business organization laptops, these are often off the network when the regular backups occur. Because the backup with a conventional software solution is regular according to a specific time the laptops are not always connected therefore they miss out on the backup. Specialized laptop backup software solution backups up the laptop as it joins to the electronic network, but most don’t handle the following well or at all:

• losing the network connection
• being removed from the network connection during backup
• user stops the backup before it is completed

An example might illustrate the difficulties with conventional backup software solution more clearly. For instance let’s compare to car insurance.  When you buy automobile insurance coverage that you would not have to trouble yourself about where you go you should be protected everyplace. Now what if that policy has a rider that states that you can only drive within a 100 mile range in order to be protected?  The company, or person, has paid for full coverage, but can only go within a certain limited area. This example illustrates what happens when the companies backup software solution does not reliably backup laptops at a remote location or only when it is connected to the network. While the software solution programs provide laptop backup it is often tied to conventional patterns of time and regular connectivity. With reliable laptop backup software solution, both management and IT staff, feel comfortable in the knowledge, that even crucial information kept on laptops located off the network, is backed up at proper times and dates.

Just as in the insurance lesson above increasing laptop backup protection safeguards all over not only in specific areas or time. By having trustworthy laptop backup software there is a sizable increase of time and resources for the corporation as a whole since the info is assured and accessible.

You can trust us… just let us earn it first.

As more and more of business is done online, and as aspects like “cloud computing” (any sort of data like email or important files stored off-site on a server somewhere) become more regularly integrated into the daily lives of companies, an import question needs to be asked:

Why should you just hand over all those super-sensitive files to a company you might not know well?

According to business IT experts EDL Consulting:

“A new report recently released by Practical eCommerce states many small business’ ecommerce websites should consider online backup as a top priority in the future. As these websites store more and more information about their customers, it is imperative they back the information up to prevent data loss.

Aside from storing customer information, online backup is crucial for ecommerce companies because it allows them to instantly restore their websites in the event of a disaster. Downtime is the type of event that can paralyze any ecommerce company, and using an online backup service will help any organization quickly restore a website in the event of a crash.

According to the news provider, ecommerce companies considering online backup must ensure certain things with their vendor before finalizing any agreement. Firstly, understanding where data is stored is important to prevent any compliance issues. Beyond that, learning how far back a vendor will store data and the technology used to do so will help ecommerce companies make the right decision.”

To which we say…we agree wholeheartedly. Blindly trusting an online backup company with your precious data is worse than ignoring the idea and importance of online backup itself. So ask away, and let us ease your concerns about online backup.

Here are five ways to get the answers you need:

What if we already have a tape backup system/zip drive? How long will a Mirrored Storage backup take? Onsite, offsite — what’s the difference? How secure is my data? What happens if the backup gets interrupted? Will you delete my files without asking? Will I be able to access my data remotely?

1. We’ve tried to anticipate most of your questions in advance, so start with our Data Backup FAQ, our Backup & Storage Technical FAQ, or our “Ten Questions” paper for more information about our managed data backup services.
2. Take our free Data Backup & Storage Risk Assessment Quiz and contact us for a free on-site assessment.
3. For data wonks, check out our treasure trove of online data backup & storage white papers.
4. For real world skeptics, check out what our satisfied data backup customers have to say.
5. Ask an expert. A real, live, talking person. Right here in Dallas. Contact us online here, or call 214.550.0550. We’d love to talk with you.

What makes a professional in your chosen field?

This is a question that I asked my customers & friends.  In some professions there are education or professional designations.  It is a commonly accepted standard that 10,000 hours of working in a profession gives the worker the professional designation.  While there is no accepted standard for Backup professionals I did survey my customers about their respective professions.  Here is what they told me:

• Life & Health Insurance, State Farm – 480 policies over 8 years of writing policies
• Optometrist, Lakeside Vision – 500 comprehensive eye exams
• Pest Control, Alpha Omega Pest Control & Safety – 5 years of experience
• Structural Engineering – 7 years experience
• Personal Injury Law, The Law Offices of Balon B. Bradley – 25 years experience
• Commercial Printing, SpringBok Painting – more than 5 years
• Automotive Leather, Trinity Leather and Accessories – 14 years experience
• Residential Real Estate, Keller Williams – 100 each buy and sell
• Family Law, Easley & Marquis – 500 cases
• Promotional Products, EmbroidMe – 6 years
• Sales – no one knows for sure!

On June 18^th Mirrored Storage completed our 10,000^th successful backup.  Lakeside Vision of Plano Texas, a customer since April 4^th 2010 is the esteemed recipient of this distinction.  Since Mirrored Storage started in February 2009 we have served customers from around the world, but focused on the North Texas region.  We have experienced tremendous growth since Lakeside Vision became a customer and as a percentage 50% of those backups have happened since they became a customer.

We are excited on not only in the Mile Stone of 10,000 backups, but the rate that we are growing.  Since April 4^th 2010 we have completed 5,000 successful backup jobs for our customers.

We offer a free backup assessment both online through our quiz or onsite looking at your environment in detail.  Call, contact or email us for an appointment today!

214-550-0550

Those pages and pages of financial records you’re holding on to in case of an IRS audit—gone. That year of documented business planning—vanished. Those seaside sunset honeymoon pictures from Bali—well, good thing you can’t erase memories.

It could happen to just about anybody. In this day and age, more and more businesses, schools, and private individuals are relying on their computers and local servers to store and secure critical data and files. What’s at risk is simply the sort of stuff that just can’t be easily replaced without reliable managed online data backup.

Just ask Dallas County.
According to the Associated Press:

A computer crisis that crippled most of Dallas County’s government operations Tuesday might have been avoided had officials heeded a consultant’s warning two years ago.

The Dallas Morning News reports Wednesday that a 2008 consultant advised the county to have a backup plan for its computer systems. Such an offsite location could keep the county up and running when there is a calamity.

A broken water main near the Dallas County records building Monday night flooded the downtown facility’s basement and subbasement. The floodwaters have shut down the county’s computer system, forcing officials to book inmates into the county jail manually.

The building houses deeds to properties and other critical records.

Officials say no county data was lost but they learned a costly lesson.

It’s a lesson with costly consequences (which, thankfully, Dallas County avoided). In fact, according to the University of Texas, ”only 6 percent of companies suffering from a catastrophic data loss survive, while 43 percent never reopen and [another] 51 percent close within two years.”  We have recorded MANY reasons why remote backup is so important.

Just think about why your business relies on such data, and then think about who relies on that business. It’s just not worth the risk of becoming a statistic.

We, of course, believe strongly in online backup, security and restore for both the Dallas area and beyond, and believe strongly that it’s important to partner with a remote data storage company you can trust. We’ve been serving the Dallas business community for more than 20 years, growing alongside the internet itself.

Contact our online backup and data storage experts to discuss your options .

Take our Data Risk Assessment Quiz to see if you could use a free assessment from us.

Like your dad, mine taught me that life truth at an early age. While I tested it several times growing up what dad taught me turned out to be true again and again. Here are a few that I ran into that you might relate to ranked by age for me:

• 12 Albums/Tape for .99
• Free Stamp/Coin Proofs
• Free unlimited brake jobs for as long as you own the car
• Bumper to bumper warranty
• Free Service included w/ purchase of new car
• Any sign-up for Free Vacation/Car/$1mil/etc
• Sign-up for Free for 30 days providing credit card, just cancel (victim of this one X times)
• Transferable Warranty
• Home Warranty for home buyer

I would challenge anyone looking for the remote backup service to evaluation any service first. Don’t give your credit card information to try a service. Test it to see if it is really free and works for you. Ask questions of others (Research, Blog, References, Regulatory Compliance, etc) for their experience. Think about it, if you are loading data to a provider where the volume exceeds the raw cost of the storage then what your dad taught you MAY come into play. We also have a great resource that you can use “Ten Questions to Ask your Online Backup Provider”.
From my research, understanding being in the online backup industry and talking with customers of many of the providers (also testing myself) there are ways that many providers limit those that “take advantage of the system”; AKA using more than they are paying for. The most common practices they limit the volume of uploaded data allowed per day (i.e. 100mb per day – less than 10 photos with digital most cameras). Another common practice is “expiring old files”. This can be as little as 90 days. I personally take digital photos that I load on my PC, edit and backup for storage FOREVER. It is NOT OK with me for files to be deleted EVER much less in such a short time.
We recently added a customer that tried several of the popular data backup services without success. The primary reason was our service and support. When we talked with them about the above issues they admitted that they had seen both limits and deletions within the first month of us. This is much faster that I had experienced, so I am creating new accounts of my own and trying again.
Lastly, I have another Truth about data backup:
“We manage our customer’s backups, other services manage credit cards.”
In other words, their customers won’t hear from them unless the credit card doesn’t work. Our customers hear from us when there is an issue.
We look forward to helping you with your online backups. Start your FREE Evaluation today, without any strings attached, only what you dad taught you!

In my daily talking with businesses I see a lot of business owners and principles that don’t really understand the risk they are taking with their livelihood, savings, kids college education, retirement, etc. by not using a data backup solution. This NOT limited to small non-technical companies, but those of all sizes and industries.

In that last few weeks I have been doing some work without involvement or access to the Information Technology professional. In my research I have become quite good at discovering the existing data backup software or lack thereof.

Here is a brief summary of what I found:
- 1.4m medical images not backed up successfully since 2004. They believed they were.
- 600k medical record images not backed up successfully since 1999. They believed they were.
- 700k medical images where the backup drive filled up 2 days before I found it. CD creation secondary system created blank CD’s for an undetermined amount of time.
- 15 GB of accounting practice data not ever backed up before.
- QuickBooks files for business NEVER backed up prior to my audit w/ an existing customer. They believed they were using the built in remote backup, but were pointing to a local full drive.
My questions to you;
- Is your data being backed up?
- Are you willing to bet your business on the answer?

I am willing to do a free 1 hour data backup assessment at your site for a limited time, based on availability. I also over an off-site component price based on time needed to complete and included for new customers.

Call me BEFORE you have an issue.
John Neibel
President and Business Owner

Like your dad, mine taught me that life truth at an early age.  While I tested it several times growing up what dad taught me turned out to be true again and again.  Here are a few that I ran into that you might relate to ranked by age for me:

-          12 Albums/Tape for .99

-          Free Stamp/Coin Proofs

-          Free unlimited brake jobs for as long as you own the car

-          Bumper to bumper warranty

-          Free Service included w/ purchase of new car

-          Any sign-up for Free Vacation/Car/$1mil/etc

-          Sign-up for Free for 30 days providing credit card, just cancel (victim of this one X times)

-          Transferable Warranty

-          Home Warranty for home buyer

-          Unlimited Backup for $4.95/month or $54.95/year

I would challenge anyone looking for a remote backup service to evaluation any service first.  Don’t give your credit card information to try ANY service.  Test it to see if it really works for you.  Ask questions of others (Research, Blog, References, Regulatory Compliance, etc) for their experience.   Think about it, if you are loading data to a provider where the volume exceeds the raw cost of the storage then what your dad taught you MAY come into play.  We also have a great resource that you can use “Ten Questions to Ask your Online Backup Provider”.

From my research, understanding being in the online backup industry and talking with customers of many of the providers (also testing myself) there are ways that many providers limit those that “take advantage of the system”; AKA using more than they are paying for.  The most common practices they limit the volume of uploaded data allowed per day (i.e. 100mb per day – less than 10 photos with digital most cameras).  Another common practice is “expiring old files”.  This can be as little as 90 days.  I personally take digital photos that I load on my PC, edit and backup for storage FOREVER.  It is NOT OK with me for files to be deleted EVER much less in such a short time.

We recently added a customer that tried several of the popular data backup services without success. The primary reason was our service and support.  When we talked with them about the above issues they admitted that they had seen both limits and deletions within the first month of us.  This is much faster that I had experienced, so I am creating new accounts of my own and trying again.

Lastly, I have another Truth about data backup:

“We manage our customer’s backups, other services manage credit cards.”
In other words, their customers won’t hear from them unless the credit card doesn’t work.
Our customers hear from us when there is an issue.

We look forward to helping you with your online backups.  Start your FREE Evaluation today, without any strings attached; only what you dad taught you!

I have always believed that there are others that have experienced what I am facing.  As I was growing up if I had a questions my parents told me to look it up in the encyclopedia or go to the library.  Today we say “Google it!”  As a professional I use Google, Ask, Bing and Linked-In.

Here is a testimonial from a new customer that found me Online.  Save yourself days of effort & frustration by starting with Mirrored Storage.

American World, President

My computer is not only growing old, but perhaps reaching for some longevity record.

Several weeks ago, I began trying various data-backup alternatives.  A little research quickly eliminated both adding a tape B/U unit or removeable, semiconductor memory via my USB for practical and technical considerations..

I settled on storing my data on-line, to be safe in cyberspace.  There were several companies promoting these services at prices that varied substantially.  I flipped a coin and tried one.  It ran OK for a few days, but when I changed software vendors for my virus protection, it slowed down my whole computer and I began to encounter random, weird bugs.  Contacting their technical support didn’t help.  They didn’t know their product seemed to be trying random fixes.  None of these helped the situation.  Further, they didn’t like the fact that I was a small operation, without my own technical people to help thrm.  I cancelled the service, still within the “Free Trail” period.

It’s commonly accepted that insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  I guess I’m loony.  I tried three other companies with about the same story, with the exception that one told me their “senior technical guru” was on vacation, but would call me in two weeks.  I figured if I had a computer failure and needed help, I wouldn’t want to wait.

I belong to Linked-In.  I was about to give up and buy an expensive tape unit when I got an email through Linked-In from John Neibel, CEO of Mirrored Storage.  His company offered the same kind of on-line B/U.  I decided to give it one more try.  I ran into a couple of “cockpit” problems that were my fault and was amazed that John gave me personal service and solved these.  My backups are now running smoothly and without any noticeable system degradation.  I could not have received better support.  I’d highly recommend John, his company and services – and I’m glad that “one more try” proved I still have a ways to go before I become daft.

Best!

Dick Brown, President
American World

EMC Sponsored Study – WITH HOLES!

Data backup and recovery choices for SMBs

Small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) need and deserve the same level of quality found in the data backup and recovery systems of their larger “enterprise” counterparts. The good news is that there are a lot of choices available to them. Where there are only a handful of data backup software packages that can meet the needs of enterprise customers, there are myriad choices available to SMBs. Among these choices are many gems, and many products that will be just fine. The bad news is that among these choices also lie a number of very disappointing products, too. The really bad news is that SMBs can’t afford expensive consultants to help them navigate through the dozens of choices available to them. So what’s an SMB to do?

It’s all about the data backup requirements

The first thing that an SMB must do is to become familiar with their data backup requirements. What operating systems do you plan to back up (e.g., Windows, Mac OS, Linux)? What applications do you run on your servers (e.g., Exchange, SQL Server, SharePoint, Oracle)? How much data will you be backing up? How fast do you want to back it up and how fast do you want to restore it? How often do you want to back it up?

One of the most commonly ignored requirements is the need to get the data offsite in some way. So many smaller companies have their only backup system onsite, and when disaster occurs, their system is destroyed right along with the servers it’s protecting. The company in the office next to this author lost all their data when their main server and its backup drive were stolen together. Please do not forget to include this requirement, despite what you may have been told about its cost.

Another requirement that often goes by the wayside in SMBs is the need to have a fully integrated backup system. Many times smaller companies try to back up things like Exchange and SQL Server by dumping them to disk and backing up those dump files. While this is a viable approach, the preferred approach should be to use backup software that fully understands all your data types and backs them up directly.

Proprietary commercial backup software

There is not a shortage of commercial backup software available for SMBs. Viable backup packages start as low as $75. The cost starts increasing as you add agents for Exchange, SQL Server, etc. A list of many of these packages is available at Backup Central. Make a list of all of the packages that appear to support the data types you need, and make note of any pricing information you may find on their websites.

Open-source backup software

A very valid alternative for many companies is the use of open-source data backup software, and these software packages fall into two categories: free and commercial. The free packages tend to be built on a Linux core, so using a Linux-based backup server is required for their use. If that Data backup and recovery choices for SMBs requirement would mean installing a Linux system for the first time, this is probably not a viable alternative for you. Learning a new backup system is hard enough; learning it on a new operating system can be a show-stopper. In addition, the free packages vary in their maturity, and some may require more customization and debugging than others. It’s a good idea to check out the product’s user community for postings to see the kind of bugs you may experience as well as the support you’re likely to find with that product. Free products to consider include Amanda, Bacula, BackupPC, rdiff-backup, and rsnapshot.

Just as there is a community version and a commercial version of the open-source MySQL database, and commercial distributions of Linux, there are also community and commercial versions of open-source backup software. Commercial support for Amanda is provided by Zmanda and support for Bacula is provided by Bacula Systems. While both of these products obviously cost more than their community counterparts, the cost pales in comparison with that of many commercial packages. Whether you use the free or commercial version, the money saved can be spent on hardware.

Data backup hardware

While tape is still in use in most companies, it’s no secret that disk has become a preferred target for backups, and this is especially true for SMBs, which may not have the resources to spend troubleshooting all of the things that can happen in a tape-based backup system. Depending on the size of your company, you may be able to use very small, inexpensive arrays like those provided by Drobo or Iomega, or the smaller versions of dedupe targets such as those provided by Data Domain, Quantum, or Exagrid. Again, one of the best things you can do for your backup system is to save your money on software by using open-source software, and spend the money you save on a really nice backup target.

Cloud backup services

Or, you can forget about backup software and hardware and hand all your backup problems to someone else — a cloud data backup service. Install a piece of software on any system to be backed up and magic just happens. If the magic doesn’t happen, it’s someone else’s job to notice and let you know. This is really the best way to do backups for many SMBs — if you can find a company whose pricing you can swallow. Companies like Backblaze, Carbonite Inc., CrashPlan and EMC/Mozy are offering very reliable backup with pricing aimed at SMBs. (If you’re willing to host your own backup server at a colo facility or at someone’s home, you can actually use CrashPlan for free.)

Don’t settle for less just because you’re a smaller company. Demand reliable backup that is stored offsite so that your company will continue to exist even when your servers don’t.

The Gap that Mirrored Storage FILLS

In my research I literally signed up and use about 50 products.  After all, this started as a project to solve my own backup problems that lead me start a company.  None of them, including open-source (free & purchased) and the Cloud services did what I wanted; A services that backup up my computers off-site and that someone else is monitoring.  I coined the term “managed credit card vs. managed backup” to explain what I found.  They only called me when my credit card charge bounced (canceled card or expiration date reached).  When I had a problem with a restore I discovered the dirty little secret, NO ONE WAS MONITORING MY BACKUP!

I monitor my customers backups and they hear from me by 8am when there is a problem!!!