IBM, Verizon Launch Cloud-Based Enterprise Backup Service

IT giants IBM and Verizon on March 31 introduced a new cloud service and software offering that will make existing "industrial-strength" Verizon data storage services more accessible for data centers.

The two companies co-launched the highly configurable Managed Data Vault, which provides secure daily backups for any amount of business data through a beefed-up VPN that can run on either IP or on a private direct line.

Managed Data Vault, although it sounds like it would be archived storage, is strictly a daily backup service and does not include a search function or the metadata required to create enterprise archives.

It is a single package-with hardware, software and additional services provided by IBM where necessary-designed to help clients retrieve a file, restore a device or recover from a serious outage emergency. It is aimed at large enterprises with anywhere from 15TB to 150TB or more data in their storage arrays.

Managed Data Vault is designed to ingest as much structured or unstructured business data as possible as quickly as possible and store it safely off-site for quick recovery as needed, Laura Elliott, manager of IT solutions at Verizon, told eWEEK.

"This is an end-to-end solution over a private line, if needed," Elliott said. "We can do either MPLS [Multiprotocol Label Switching] or optical ring, so as to separate it from the public lines. This is about as industrial-strength as you can get."

The new private cloud service can support more than 10 times the storage capacity of traditional Internet-based backup and recovery solutions, while enabling businesses to draw on off-site protection at on-site speeds, Warren Sirota, strategy and program development executive for IBM Global, told eWEEK.

"At this time, using standard lines, it can take weeks or even a month to back up large amounts of data over the Internet," Sirota said. "With this, enterprises can back up their nightly business data in hours."

Elliott said data-movement speeds will reach up to 400GB per second. She also said the service offers enterprise-level data protection while the data is en route to the remote storage location.

Sirota could not be specific about pricing but did say IBM is charging for this service on a per-gigabyte-stored basis. For more information, go here.

Managed Data Vault will be available at first to Verizon and IBM clients in the New York metro area and will be rolled out to other regions during 2010.