Broxap Case Study

Replacing an ageing tape-based solution was always a priority for Michael Moreton, IT manager of Broxap, the UK’s leading manufacturer of street...

Redstor transforms Broxap’s data management

* Backups eight times quicker * No more three-hour waits to restore files

IT staff reclaim half a day in data management every week

Backup times have been reduced from 24 hours to just three, archived files are now accessed in minutes rather than hours, and the IT team have freed up a technician for half a day every week ever since Broxap switched to Redstor for their cloud data management.

Replacing an ageing tape-based solution was always a priority for Michael Moreton, IT manager of Broxap, the UK’s leading manufacturer of street furniture, playground and sports equipment.

Crucial backups were running throughout the business day, sometimes exceeding 24 hours.

Finding an ideal replacement, though, was complicated by the fact that Broxap deployed a multitude of software and various different methods to protect 55 physical and virtual servers. However, Michael was never in any doubt that Redstor would replace all that complexity with a straightforward solution to back up 12TB of data.

Not only are Broxap’s backups now completed within the designated timeframe of three hours, deploying Redstor has freed up an IT technician for the first hour of every morning.

Michael said: “We no longer have to log backups and change tapes five days a week. Having an IT technician effectively available for an extra five hours per week has helped dramatically."

It isn’t just about the cost of a solution, I can see the added value with Redstor that we have gained through time-saving."

Michael Moreton, IT manager of Broxap

Challenges

Solution

Key Benefits

Rapid growth of unstructured data and inability to complete backups within business days
High management overhead backing up to tape
Multiple methods and various software to protect data
Up to three hours to access archived data

Quick recovery and fast, cost-effective, secure offsite backup. Guaranteed security with data encrypted at source
Incremental remote backups ensure minimal data transfer by identifying and sending only changed data
Unified view of data from single console

Backup times cut from more than 24 hours to just three
Half a day of IT technician time regained every week
Archived data restored in minutes rather than three hours
Solution scales to accommodate company's increasing data

No more lengthy hunts for files as data is streamed on demand

Staff no longer spend three hours hunting for a file

When Broxap’s IT staff needed to go back through tapes and look for an end-of-month or end-of-year restore point, it would take two to three hours to do the catalogue and the inventory - and there would often be no way of being certain a file was on a particular tape.

If we had an audit or something went wrong, previously we would have to go through all the job history. However, with Redstor retrieving archived data is a matter of minutes."

Michael Moreton, IT manager of Broxap,

InstantData enables staff to stream what they need when they need it from backups or archives - instantly.

What is your biggest challenge around backup and recovery?

The threat of security incidents and how quickly you can recover
Time spent on administrative tasks
Cost of backup technology
Limitations of legacy backup technology
Gaining visibility of all of your data

Unified view of data wherever it’s stored

Redstor has removed the complexity that came with monitoring multiple devices in a bid to centralise all the various different backups taking place.

Michael said: “We’ve now got the reporting in one place and that has saved time. With Redstor it does not matter where I am or what time it is. I can check my backups very quickly and see any issues within one interface - and I can right click and gain access to my backups as well.

''I can manage all the clients that are online through the single interface without being remotely connected to them. I don’t need to ask: “Can I log onto your device and make a change?”

Fully secure solution and rapid recovery for peace of mind

Broxap’s data is stored offsite in UK datacentres, so Michael can rest assured that in the event of a ransomware attack or natural disaster, downtime will be kept to a minimum. He said: “Taking a backup tape home at night was always a big responsibility for someone - and when there was an issue, the first question was always: “Who’s got the tapes and can they actually get to site?”

''With Redstor’s InstantData, I have the reassurance that, were the worst to happen, I can get my data and recover quickly - whether that’s a file or a virtual machine.''

Regular testing has never been easier

The mixture of previous backup solutions Broxap deployed made it difficult to test the effectiveness of their disaster recovery plan.
That’s no longer the case as Redstor makes testing easy by presenting backed-up systems and data for temporary access as a virtual drive and for permanent recovery to a destination of choice.

If it was a critical server, we would probably skip that test because it was too time consuming. With Redstor, I can right click . . . and I’ve got my data.”

Michael Moreton, IT manager of Broxap

Archiving frees up expensive storage space

Redstor’s simple-to-manage, long-term cloud archiving frees up expensive primary storage space, while ensuring that archived data remains extremely easy to access. Michael said: “I still needed to back up some of the older reference servers, but Redstor has it covered from the legacy applications right up to current OS support. That’s a major plus point.

''If you want a solution you can manage with ease, knowing backups have been taken care of, look no further. I’ve seen how good Redstor is and there was never any doubt it was the right solution for us.''