Seattle-based XactData Services Inc has launched an automatic on-line remote data back-up service that uses Integrated Services Digital Network. Customers are able to download a day’s worth of data via the telephone line to XactData’s storage facility in Seattle. The data is stored on a fault-tolerant array of 9Gb hard drives from Seagate Technology Corp. Current capacity is 500Gb but XactData describes the hard drives’ configuration as modular and says that as it has used popular hardware, expansion should pose not problems when it is needed. There are 32 lines into the one unit. XactData software resides on the network administrator’s node and this is where all the processing occurs. Once the software is installed and a baseline transfer of the company’s data has been downloaded, XactData says the administrator can configure how and when data is to be downloaded. A day’s worth can be done all at one time, or different data sets can be transfered at different times. The software automatically compresses and transmits the data in a password-protected form. Once the back-up is completed, the service scans the client’s computers for viruses and automatically distributes any upgrades of software. Virus scanning comes via a licence with Symantec Corp’s new subsidiary Central Point Software Inc in Beaverton, Oregon. If the back-up has been successful, an OK message is sent to the administrator; if not then an appropriate message is sent. Users can also restore files. The software is Windows-based and the restore function appears as a button on screen so that a simple click should replace files, says the firm. XactData, which was formed last summer, is marketing the service known as XactData as a rival to off-site tape storage systems. The company says that although telephone time can be expensive, once the baseline download has been completed, most companies’ nightly back-ups take only a few minutes. Tests, says XactData, show that for a 2Gb server tape storage off-site costs $800 a month whereas its service costs just $250. The big problem for US customers, however, is the lack of Integrated Services Digital Network systems. K C Aly, chief executive of XactData said that companies were keen to invest in ISDN and that the major service providers were begining to install such networks.
