Why should I back up?

A daft question you may think, but, it still shocks us every time we ask someone “Where do you backup your stuff to?” and their reply is “…Err ummm, well…. I haven’t got one”

All too often this occurs on the wrong side of a hard drive disaster or some other major calamity with their systems.

We have still yet to understand why people and businesses display a remarkable faith in hard drives.. they fail, that’s a fact, like anything with moving parts or electronic components, eventually they break, even with the latest RAID arrays and controllers it doesn’t provide any kind of protection against fire, theft or natural disaster.

However, it isn’t just hardware failure or damage that can cause data loss, consider virus infection, application crashes and power failures, all of these can corrupt precious data leaving a requirement for data restoration.

Data backup is essential today, it is highly unlikely a business would survive without it.

Many businesses find themselves regulated by various bodies, many of those bodies insist that their subscribers and members demonstrate their back up and disaster recovery scenarios.

So, given that we all know we need to back up our data, what kind of backup should we choose?

There are several backup methods:

• Backup to Digital Tape device
• Backup to Removable Hard Drive
• Backup to CD/DVD media
• Backup to online vault
• Backup to remote office or disaster recovery location

Each method has its own set of advantages and pit falls, we will focus on the online backup solution and why this may be the best method.

Online backup removes the need to constantly change destination media, such as tapes, cd’s and removable drives. The online backup allows you to run a scheduled service on your machine which will automatically backup your data and send it to a secure location over the internet.

Online backup allows a restore of data to anywhere (as long as there is an internet connection available) There is no need to install any devices or drivers to restore data to a new machine, simply log in to the web interface and begin restoring your data.

Online Backup reports are delivered to any number of recipients after every single backup routine has been run. The reports detail the successful backup and, importantly, highlight any errors and issues that need to be addressed.

With online backup Data is encrypted to the highest standards before being transmitted over the internet. In today’s day and age data security is everything, data simply must be encrypted before being transmitted. Even if the data is intercepted, it is not possible to gain access to the data without the encryption key.

Online backup requires no capital outlay, there are no expensive drives to purchase, no tapes or other media. The service only requires an application to be installed on the machine and configured to carry out all of the scheduled backups.

Data retention is easy and straight forwards with online backup. There are no complicated tape or drive rotation plans required, simply set the retention period you require for deleted files and previous versions of files and off you go, the rest it automatic.

Online backup will work with low bandwidth internet connections. It maybe that you have a very large amount of data to be backed up and a slow internet connection. This scenario can be handled with a ‘seeding process’ which means that an initial backup seed is delivered to the backup servers on a removable drive and in future only changes are sent.

Sys3 offer online backup services:

Our Backup Product provides quick, efficient backups to two separate offsite vaults allowing immediate restores.

• Supports Windows, Linux, Mac, NetWare, Solaris
• Supports Exchange Server, Brick-level exchange mailbox, SQL Server, Oracle, Lotus Notes and MySQL backup
• Protects all desktops and notebooks easily
• Sends data off-site to two purpose designed data-centres
• Backs up across low bandwidth connections
• Allows immediate restores at the click of a mouse
• Encrypts data at source
• Automatic – no need for manual involvement
• No capital outlay
• Easy-to-use

Please feel free to pick up the phone: 0845 313 1919 and speak with Ian or Luke or, alternatively Visit Our Contact Page and enquiry from there.

Before we answer that question, lets take a look at the Ethernet portion.

What is Ethernet?

Ethernet is rapidly becoming the standard protocol and interface used for local area (LAN) and wide area networks (WAN). Traditionally Lease Lines, WES and WEES circuits have been used, however, we are now seeing Ethernet replace these circuits.

Ethernet is able to deliver uncontended, symmetrical, high speed bandwidth to the internet or site to site. Ethernet can be delivered over copper or fibre and is able to provide flexible bandwidth from 2Mb to 1Gb.

Ethernet has complete UK coverage and utilizes lower cost customer premises equipment than that of the traditional X21 equipment used with Lease Lines.

What is Ethernet In The First Mile (EFM)?

Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) is a nickname that has been given to an amendment of the Ethernet Standard (IEEE Std 802.3ah-2004) This amendment specifies “Media Access Control Parameters, Physical Layers, and Management Parameters for Subscriber Access Networks”.

The EFM standard was approved by the IEEE Standards Board in June 2004 before it was published on an official basis in September 2004.

The ‘First Mile’ refers to the communication network that links the customer premises equipment to the last provider-owned node (street cabinet, pole or office) . This is also referred to by providers as ‘The Last Mile’.

What EFM does is provide a set of specifications that allows users to run the Ethernet Protocol over media which was previously unsupported, this can include single pairs of telephone wiring (Copper) and SMF (single-mode fibre)

EFM is therefore suited to subscriber access networks, networks which connect subscribers to their service providers.

What Does This Mean?

EFM uses regular copper pairs making it relatively simple to connect your premises to the exchange. the chief difference is that the pairs used for EFM do not carry analogue telephone signals. EFM can use more than one pair allowing for the delivery of greater bandwidth (2mb to 10mb). How many pairs you would actually need will depend on several factors including the distance you are from the exchange. Ideally, premises should be located within 4.5km of an EFM enabled exchange.

Provisioning of EFM is usually takes far less time than that of fibre based ethernet as you would expect far less in the way of cable laying (the copper is hopefully, already there!) Typically lead times are 25 working days.

Mark Stapleton, BT Wholesale’s General Manager – Next Generation Data Products, comments: “It means Communications Providers and resellers can offer their SME customers more Ethernet choice at an economic price. EFM is an ideal option for businesses that are looking to run multiple applications from their sites such as VoIP and video conferencing or anti-spam, anti-fraud software services and hosted applications as well as the usual data transfer and broadband connections.”

Mark adds: “We recognise that in today’s mixed economy where SMEs may want to chose anything from between 2Mbit/s to speeds of 40Mbit/s plus, resellers need to be able to offer their customers a “pick ‘n’ mix” approach. The new EFM option extends the capabilities of BT Wholesale Ethernet to make this easy. Together they give our customers the flexibility to focus on acquiring and retaining their customers while enjoying the most cost-effective and flexible Ethernet solution possible for their fast-growing bandwidth-hungry apps and high-definition content.”

Can I Get EFM?

The short answer is that we need to check! The best way to find out is to Contact Sys3 with your postcode and let us carry this out for you. We can then provide a firm quotation for your bandwidth requirements.

Broadband connectivity is an essential tool for business and with Sys3 ADSL2+ Broadband you will receive connection speeds of up to 24Mbps. Whatever the size of your business, Sys3 provides a range of cost effective broadband solutions to meet your business requirements.

ADSL2+ Broadband

With Sys3 ADSL2+ Broadband, your business will benefit from:

• Super-fast download speeds of up to 24Mbps

• Higher upload speeds of up to 1Mbps

• A range of usage allowances to suit all needs

• No hidden extras or confusing ‘fair usage’ policies

• Fixed IP address as standard

• Wires only service allowing you to re-use existing hardware

• Extra flexibility with the option of one month contracts

Sys3 Browser

Sys3 Browser is our entry level broadband service for the home user. With a 5Gb usage allowance, this package is ideal for every day web browsing, emailing and the occasional downloading of media files.

Sys3 Browser Plus

Sys3 Browser Plus is our entry level broadband service for small businesses. The 10Gb usage allowance gives the small business the ideal service for emailing, online backups and frequent downloads.

Sys3 Business Connect

Sys3 Business Connect is the mid-level business package and has a very generous 50Gb monthly allowance to satisfy the day-to-day requirements of a larger, more bandwidth-hungry business.

Sys3 Business Plus
Sys3 Business Plus is our premier wholesale broadband service aimed at businesses with the need to upload or download large amounts of data on a regular basis, so has a monthly usage allowance of 100Gb.

Connection Speeds

All Sys3 ADSL2+ services offer download speeds of up to 24Mbps and upload speeds of up to 1Mbps. The maximum connection speed is subject to the line quality and the distance from site to a local BT exchange. The line will automatically receive the best speed it can support, whilst providing a stable service.

Installation and Support

We can provide tailored solutions to support your broadband packages, including hardware preconfiguration, installation and support.

Hardware Supply

Sys3 can supply hardware for customers who wish to configure and install their ADSL routers. Equipment is provided on a supply only basis without configuration and installation and  includes a 12 month warranty.

Wires Only

All services are provided as “wires only” unless hardware has been ordered separately. This allows the you to re-use your hardware from any existing service, resulting in a more cost effective package.