IT administrators can choose to send a constant flow of data to a remote site, or to simply send a load at set intervals, like once an hour or once a day, Schwartz says. The software synchronizes the data between the two sites whenever a replication is made.
On the downside, since the transfer of data between sites is asynchronous, meaning that operations at the first site dont wait for a receipt from the second site before moving on to the next job, companies would lose the data in transit in the case of a disaster (see Data Protection for more information). But while acknowledging this drawback, Schwartz says that, depending on the setup, companies could narrow the loss of data to only about five minutes. If companies need more security than that, he says, they should shell out for a high-end, synchronous replication product from the likes of EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) or IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) (see IBM Pushes Shark's Copy Buttons).
Bottom line? Despite the risks, UniTrends multiserver replication is cheaper than most of the products out there, which target higher-end companies and have price-tags to match. At $5,000 per DPU appliance, or per 10 servers, the SDS software is definitely among the more affordable products on the market. It's worth noting, though, that the software only works in conjunction with UniTrends appliance, which can cost between $6,000 and $30,000, depending on the types of servers connected. The company says its working on a version of the software that can work independently of the appliance.
UniTrends, which was founded in 1987 and is privately held, has had five beta customers testing its new software and claims a number of prospective paying customers. The company says it already has about 70 customers using its DPU appliance and more than 10,000 customers using its initial CTAR (Compressing Tape Archiver) product. UniTrends new president, Jacques McCormack, says the company recently closed its first round of funding from Trelys Funds but declined to say how much it has received (see Unitrends Gets Funding, President).
Financial services and trading company Greystone, which has been testing the software since last fall, says it is planning to purchase it for most of its branch offices. Weve implemented a disaster recovery farm for a number of years, says the manager of the companys information technology division, Ned Howard. We wanted to replicate information between our server farm here and our disaster site, but we needed something that wouldnt break the bank.
To realize the benefits of cloud-native software, an application must actually be cloud-native—designed to run in the cloud, interacting with disaggregated cloud services, fully manageable as code—to deliver the expected benefits.
By combining resources and expertise, the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium will offer a blueprint for how industries can adapt to an AI-dominated future.
IT leaders should heed the guidance of cybersecurity insurance providers who think businesses should prioritize security education, incident preparedness, regular internal audits, and ongoing vulnerability scanning and patching.
