ExaGrid Meets Carter’s Straightforward Requirements
Some of the solutions that Durham evaluated were very large and complex, but because of Carter’s environment, he didn’t want anything unnecessarily complicated. “We were looking for a way to get rid of tape and back up data in a couple of variations. We looked at ExaGrid, and it was basically a solution in a box that allowed us to keep using our backup software, Veritas Backup Exec, and it’s worked out really well for us. As a manager, it has been a great success for me because it’s very hands-off – I don’t have to worry about it,” Durham said.
Using ExaGrid, Durham’s team has been able to do timely restores and satisfy user needs. “We haven’t had any hardware or network hiccups. ExaGrid has basically been bulletproof. All of the previous daily annoyances – can’t finish a backup, can’t read the tape, the drive is full – have dropped off the radar.” In addition to simplicity and ExaGrid’s backup application agnosticism, data deduplication was important to Carter’s IT team. “Because we have 17 branches, our duplication of files is over the top.
Each site feels like they need to have local access to their documents and tech drawings, so given that, data deduplication was a big, quick win for us when it came to the backup scheme,” Durham said. Being able to keep Veritas Backup Exec wasn’t a ‘must-have,’ but it has worked out nicely, according to Durham. However, he likes the fact that he’s not tied to a specific backup application in the event he wants to make a change in the future.