Enterprises in Middle East need ‘modern data protection’ strategy

DUBAI, UAE: It's no secret that today's unrelenting data growth, datacenter consolidation and server virtualization that is taking place in Middle East are wreaking havoc with conventional approaches to backup and recovery.

The rapidly intensifying demand for storage is putting a tight squeeze on enterprise resources-whether the organization is grappling with too much data to protect in operational windows, faster recovery requirements, physical space constraints, or increased adoption of cloud computing, backup and recovery are becoming increasingly complex, cutting into staff time and budgets and slowing operations.

According to ESG research, 27 percent and 23 percent of respondents characterized "Unacceptable level of downtime/need to improve RTO" and "Unacceptable level of data loss/need to improve RPO," respectively, as challenges with their organization's current data protection processes and technologies.

To add fuel to the fire, according to InformationWeek Reports' "State of Storage 2012" report, 70 percent of respondents indicated that the growth rate for the overall data that they have to store and manage was in the 10-49 percent range.

Allen Mitchell, senior Technical Account Manager, MENA at CommVault Systems says that clearly, conventional backup and recovery approaches currently adopted by Middle East organizations are not robust enough to meet today's data and information management challenges. A new strategy is essential.

According to Gartner: "Organizations worldwide are seeking ways to easily, quickly and cost-effectively ensure that their data is appropriately protected. Organizations are also voicing the opinion that backup needs to improve a lot, not just a little. The rising frustration with backup implies that the data protection approaches of the past may no longer suffice in meeting current, much less future, recovery requirements."