According to the recent study by Ponemon Institute, “Airport Insecurity: The Case of Lost Laptops”, sponsored by Dell, business travellers lose more than 12,000 laptops per week in U.S. airports.
According to the same study, which examined losses at 106 of the U.S.’s largest airports, the top 36 “Class B” airports averaged 286 lost laptops per month, which is about one laptop lost every 2.6 hours at these airports. The study also found that only 66% of the lost laptops were never recovered and about a third of those recovered were reclaimed.
Enterprise data is more dispersed and diverse than ever. And with over 30% corporate data sitting on PCs, administrators can no longer hold the end user responsible for protection of this critical corporate data.
The the above statistics clearly states the need for the following two solution on every single corporate PC -
- Data Protection Solution - Designed for laptops, keeping in mind the mobile workforce
- Disk Encryption and Data Leakage Prevention Solution
Shameless Plug: Druvaa inSync is a simple, fast scalable and solution especially designed for mobile workforce. Learn more here - http://www.druvaa.com/insync/laptop-backup
November 18th, 2009
PC Data growth and concerns surrounding its backup are not new, but some of the new age factors like mobility and ever growing emails have brought an interesting twist to the story. The pace of growth of data is now much more rapid, its location more dispersed and the linkage between data sets more complex. And this is especially true with large financial institutions, which have several “branch offices” and a large pool of mobile workforce.
When we approached major financial institutions in India, we were surprised to find that most of them did not have an end-user backup policy in place especially for the mobile workforce. Interestingly they had tried the available solutions, but were not convinced with the proposition.
After further dialogues, we could summarize unsolved concerns as follows -
- The backup solution should not impact the user
- Centralized backup for multiple branch offices and mobile workforce
- Efficient bandwidth throttling and management
- Low impact on storage
We showcased and proposed inSync solution and proud to say that a large percentage of initial test deployments have already placed an order. Here are some of the brands we are proud to associate with -
So, what makes inSync a favourite with this big brand names ?
Firstly, I think because its Simple.
Although none of the customers explicitly mentioned it, but I think “simplicity” is one of the most underrated characteristics of any product and specially when it comes to backup.
I must confess, not so long back, I personally tried to installed a product which starts with a “T” and ends with “li”. The battle ended after 2 days and I still not sure if I won it 
I strongly feel, that in this new “twitter” age, complexity is that last thing the world wants.
Simple “under 30 minutes” installation and clear-n-crisp pricing are the two features which have fuelled the exponential growth of this product. Most of these accounts didn’t have to spend more than a day to fully understand all the features and deploy within the first set of test users. In fact for one of the accounts, it was just 2 hours
Secondly, because it comes with some Unmatched Features.
InSync comes with some very disruptive features like -
- Global source based data deduplication
- Continuous data protection
- Dynamic bandwidth and CPU scheduling
- WAN optimization
- Search based point-in-time recovery
- Managed end-point (client) upgrades
- Bare metal restore
And to best of my knowledge, most of these features are not offered by the existing products.
Third, because its Focused
Most of the existing products were developed to take care of traditional tape backups and now have been made to evolve to “backup servers, PCs and Laptops to disk/ tapes over LAN. And maybe sometimes help you to make some coffee”
We designed inSync from scratch, just focussed on “laptops”.
For example, a server backup has strict calendar based schedule which doesn’t make much sense for laptops. The server backup solutions are designed for secure and reliable local networks, but the laptop backup solution must be friendly towards the insecure weak WAN links.
Almost all the administrators regularly use 95% of it’s features. And all the new additions are planned keeping in mind the laptop users.
Lastly, The Product Quality
Most of these accounts paid a premium for inSync compared to existing “established” products. But, I guess quality is surely remembered much after the cost is forgotten.
October 28th, 2009
As I mentioned in the last post, Druvaa acquired some great customers across 12 different countries. A large majority of the new customers are large enterprises from Technology and Finance verticals. The smallest deal size was about 20 licenses and largest about 10,000 licenses.
As a company policy we don’t engage in traditional enterprise selling, instead just help the interested customers buy mainly through the website. With this model, its even more important for to know what the customer likes and dislikes about the product.
I tried to reach almost all major customers to see why they purchased inSync and some others on why they did not. In this post I have tried to summarize the response I received.
Six things the customers really love about the product -
- Usability and ease of use - Especially the quick 20 minutes setup time for inSync v3 was very much appreciated
- Data deduplication and time savings - On an average the customers are seeing 1:15 storage and bandwidth savings compared to traditional softwares.
- WAN performance - Most of the customers are backing up mobile workforce easily and enjoying this feature.
- Search based restore - Search is used by almost 100% of the users and absolutely loved by all. This is something truly unique with inSync.
- Granular user policy control - Control over bandwidth, folders and restore policies is appreciated by all.
- Invisible backups - Smaller, smarter backup and specially the flexible scheduling is liked by all.
One of the fast emerging hot favorite feature is Bare Metal Restore, but I believe it may take some more time for this feature to get adopted properly.
Three things the customers or prospects would like to see improve -
- Mac Client - We do have Linux and Windows client, and all I can say is that Mac client is on its way
- Price - In the current economic scenario, unfortunately pricing is a major issue. This is probably a reason we saw sharp rise in sales when we offered the online introductory discount on v3. We do plan to release a low cost offering for inSync in near future
- Performance for large backup/restore- With the new release there are a few performance issues for non-compressible data especially over the Gigabit network. This is expected to be taken care of with next release.
With the new v3 release now production ready, in the next few posts I would like to outline the product roadmap and whats happening with the new product - Druvaa Pheonix.
April 29th, 2009
March 11, 2009
Within 2 weeks of announcing the beta, Druvaa announced the general availability of long awaited inSync enterprise laptop backup v3 on Windows platform. The new release adds features like search, bare-metal restore and performance improvements.
Druvaa is one of the fastest growing enterprises in storage and data backup domain. The flagship product Druvaa inSync is fully automated laptop backup software which protects corporate data for office and remote users. It features simple backup, point-in-time restores, and patent-pending deduplication technology to make backups much faster.
The new v3 release includes the following features -
- Full PC Backup (with data deduplication)
- Bare Metal Restore
- Search functionality in restore
- Performance improvements for large files (e.g. Outlook PST)
- Usability Improvements
Find out more about new release - http://www.druvaa.com/insync/laptop-backup
Download a Free 30 days evaluation copy - http://www.druvaa.com/download/insync/
Over 80% of corporate data is duplicated across users. Druvaa inSync uses data deduplication to save “only a single copy” of content (emails/docs) duplicated across users. This delivers 10X faster backup with 90% reduction in bandwidth and storage.
The product uses Continuous Data Protection to create near-infinite restore points. On restore the user sees a timeline view of data and can restore from any point in the past.
Key Product highlights includes -
- Data Deduplication - Saves 90% backup time, bandwidth and storage.
- Continuous Data Protection - Timeline based, from the past restore
- Backup for Remote Users - WAN Optimized, faster backups over VPN/WAN
- Security - 256 bit SSL and 256 bit AES encryption
- On-demand Restore - GUI and browser based restores from any point in the past
- Advanced Reporting - Six different reporting options for flexible & detailed reporting
Product Page - http://www.druvaa.com/insync/laptop-backup
Save 25% on new Purchase until March 31st 2009
Druvaa also announced an introductory 25% discount on the purchase of new v3 release. To find out more about the pricing and new discount, please visit - http://www.druvaa.com/insync/buy
About Druvaa
Founded in 2007, Druvaa Software is a leading provider of Continuous Data Protection and Disaster Recovery solutions. Since inception Druvaa has released two award wining products products - Druvaa inSync and Druvaa Phoenix. Druvaa is privately held and backed by Indian Angel Network (IAN) and Accord International (HK).
Corporate Website - http://www.druvaa.com/
March 11th, 2009
February 26, 2009
Druvaa announced the general availability of long awaited inSync enterprise laptop backup v3 beta on Windows platform. The beta release adds features like search, bare-metal restore and performance improvements.
Druvaa is one of the fastest growing startup in enterprise storage and backup domain. The flagship product Druvaa inSync is fully automated laptop backup software which protects corporate data for office and remote users. It features simple backup, point-in-time restores, and patent-pending deduplication technology to make backups much faster.
The new beta includes the following features -
- Full PC Backup (with data deduplication)
- Bare Metal Restore
- Search functionality in restore
- Performance improvements for large files (e.g. Outlook PST)
- Usability Improvements
Find our more about beta and download a free copy from - http://www.druvaa.com/insync/beta
Over 80% of corporate data is duplicated across users. Druvaa inSync uses data deduplication to save “only a single copy” of content (emails/docs) duplicated across users. This delivers 10X faster backup with 90% reduction in bandwidth and storage.
The product uses Continuous Data Protection to create near-infinite restore points. On restore the user sees a timeline view of data and can restore from any point in the past.
Key Product highlights includes -
- Data Deduplication - Saves 90% backup time, bandwidth and storage.
- Continuous Data Protection - Timeline based, from the past restore
- Backup for Remote Users - WAN Optimization for faster backups for remote users over WAN/VPN
- Security - 256 bit SSL and 256 bit AES encryption
- On-demand Restore - GUI and browser based restores from any point in the past
- Advanced Reporting - Six different reporting options for flexible and detailed reporting
Product Page - http://www.druvaa.com/insync/laptop-backup
About Druvaa
Founded in 2007, Druvaa Software is a leading provider of Continuous Data Protection and Disaster Recovery solutions. Since inception Druvaa has released two award wining products products - Druvaa inSync and Druvaa Phoenix. Druvaa is privately held and backed by Indian Angel Network (IAN) and Accord International (HK).
Corporate Website - http://www.druvaa.com/
February 26th, 2009
We receive numerous requests for throwing some light on inSync’s roadmap, so here it is. We have tried to include most of the suggestions we received from the users. At the same time, we did not go for some features as they do not fit in our vision for data protection. We discuss our view point about some of such features towards the end of this blog entry.
Our focus, as always, is ”Light-weight, Simple, Fast and Trustable” backup solution.
Version 2.2 (Oct 10th, 2008)
- Admin configured backup folders - The admin can choose “must have” folders for backup for each profile. Can also choose if user can configure more folders.
- Browser Restore - Enable user to restore files and folders using just the browser, when he is not at his desk.
- Linux Port (beta) - Initially support Ubuntu 8+, openSuse 10+ and RHEL 5+
- Advanced Reporting - 6 different reporting option for flexible and detailed reporting.
- Dump user data locally (on server) while disabling the user.
- Restore user data on server - We plan to allow a dumping user data locally (on server) in case a user is in disabled state. This could be useful for archiving a user’s data before the deleting the user.
- Publish configuration API - Publish the server configuration API to enable third party software vendors to integrate inSync backup in their management console.
Version 3.0 (Dec 21th, 2009)
- Full PC Backup - Use de-duplication to effectively backup entire PC (operating system, application executables in addition to the application configuration and data)
- Bare-metal Restore - Use restore points created by full PC backup to restore a machine that does not have a working operating system.
- Performance Improvements - for large (1GB+) file incremental backup.
- Search in Restore - Search files in restore.
Excluded Features
The features which we believe should not be implemented even though some key players offer them -
- Disable inSync client’s desktop visibility - Don’t show the inSync client running on the the user’s PC to hide backup. In our opinion, this is not a solution. The right approach is to provide a light weight backup solution that does not hamper the PC performance and hence, the user does not want to disable it.
- Server initiated backup- It is not useful for the PC backup environment, especially for mobile laptops that are not always connected. we may consider this for the server version of inSync.
- Allow USB backup or tape backup on users PC - We believe that media based backup is inherently unusable. With falling disk prices and Druvaa’s data de-duplication technology, the best backup policy is to maintain backups on hard-disks.
September 24th, 2008
Some vitals stats I could gather from google/IDG/Gartner around -
- Almost 200M employees work remotely (off their desk)
- Close to 637K laptops are lost on US airports annually
- 65% of users don’t do a backup before they start the travel
- 90% of users don’t backup while on the move
In the last 6 weeks I (personally) have heard same statement from at least 8 VPs or CXOs - “I lost my data/notebook during last travel at …” - and none of them had a backup
If I have to summarize, the top three reasons I heard from these guys:
- My backup software dosen’t work over WAN
- I had limited bandwidth connectivity
- I hate backups - they slow down my PC and work
The case for Druvaa inSync
Well this is the exact market we are focused on. Druvaa inSync does a wonderful job of remote backups because -
- It offers 90% savings in time, bandwidth and storage needed for backups.
- WAN acceleration boosts speed over WAN
- Smart bandwidth prioritization sets only a percentage of bandwidth for backup
- Super Secure - inSync uses SSL encryption over WAN and doesn’t need a VPN for backup.
Druvaa inSync saves single copy of data duplicate between users reducing the avg. backup size to almost 90% . (Considering the fact that corporate data is almost 80% duplicate between users). Yup, it’s truly unique and one of the most selling features of inSync.
Of course now these guys are taking business to me
August 31st, 2008
While doing some keyword research for Druvaa it began to become clear how interesting search engine statistic can be when you look closely at the data. From simple keyword suggestion tools, and graphs you can ascertain information that you never thought possible.
The terms “backup” or “recovery”, for instance, get over 300,000 searches per month each with Google. In other words people are searching for good solutions to keep their data safe. That information by itself is useful (at least to us), but it’s when you begin to look at more specific search terms that things really get interesting. In fact, you can even begin to clearly see trends within the industry when you compare specific terms over any given length of time.
With a look at some simple charts, you can begin to see things like:
- 1. Interest in laptop backup solutions has greatly increased over the past 10 years.
- 2. Some users are finding solutions to their data backup needs and disaster recovery isn’t as much of a problem as it was 4 years ago (but it still is a problem).
- 3. Enterprise users who have laptops in the office are still seeking a suitable solution to their backup needs.
- 4. Enterprise users who have offsite backup needs are still seeking a solution to business continuity.
To demonstrate how I can get all of that from a few search terms, let’s take a closer look at some charts.
A Look at Trends Using Search Engine Statistics
Using Google Labs and their experimental search tool you come up with the following charts for the terms “data backup” and “laptop backup”. This particular tool uses search volumes, online news statistics, number of websites, and more to show interest in any given topic. The charts clearly show that, while data backup has retained the same amount of interest over the past 10 years, interest in laptop backup has (and is) increasing.
Of course, this idea makes sense. Laptops have decreased greatly in price since 1998, and as such have become a more common tool both for enterprise users and at home. On the other hand, data integrity has been a problem for business users for a couple of decades now, so interest in the topic of “data backup” have remained relatively the same.
This information alone isn’t necessarily new. It’s the reason we created Druvaa InSync in the first place. The industry needed a reliable data backup solution, which is also fast enough to work well with computers that are on the go. To further look at what’s needed let’s look at some more charts. This time based on search volumes alone.
Laptop Backup as Important as Ever
Search volumes for any given term are an easy way to see what is happening within an industry, to gauge interest for a product or service, or even to see how one product relates to another. In the developed world more than 73% of the population has internet access, and over 88% of internet users go online when they seek a solution to a problem.
With that in mind let’s briefly look at some search engine statistic. In this case I have used Google Insights to compare related search terms. The charts are based on normalized data, over time. If you looked at the actual search volumes they would have increased with time (since Internet use has grown). To get a more accurate look, Insights uses normalized data displayed on a scale of 1 - 100.
Click Here to See the Chart for Yourself
The first chart compares the terms data backup and disaster recovery. There are two things that can be gained from this chart.
- 1. Since search volumes for both terms have declined over the past few years, it shows that some users are finding solutions to their backup needs, and disaster recovery is less of a problem today than it was in 2004/2005.
- 2. As the lines of the chart come together, they begin to show a direct correlation to each other. Very likely this is due to the fact that proper data backup is becoming the solution to disasters in the office. It really was only a few years ago that disaster recovery often meant taking that broken hard drive to have the data extracted. In the past couple of years, enterprise users have begun to see that simple backups are a cheaper (and more reliable) solution.
Since the term data backup may also relate to home users, with the next chart I used the term “enterprise backup” and compared it to “laptop backup”. Again we can see a couple of things from this chart. Once again we see a slight decline in the search volumes for enterprise backup. This confirms the idea that some enterprise users are finding a suitable solution to their backup needs.
Click Here to See the Chart for Yourself
By adding the term laptop backup though, something else begins to become clear. The term started the chart off at 61 and finished three years later at 62. There have been slight ups and downs in search volumes, but overall they have remained relatively the same. The two terms also begin to correspond closely with each other as the chart moves through 2007 and into 2008. To me this says that these terms are also beginning to become synonymous. In other words, although some enterprise users are finding a backup solution, those with laptops in the office aren’t.
I could repeat these same results with terms like “offsite backup” or “remote backup”.
With a simple look at search engine statistics we begin to see that enterprise users have a need for a laptop backup solution that works. With our own product, which provides 10x faster laptop backup and a 90% reduction in storage and bandwidth, there is a solution to suit.
August 25th, 2008
For any enterprise, the definition and amount of “critical data” on laptops and desktops is increasing. This is fueled by increasing security concerns, user mobility and cross-geography office expansions. While the expectations have increased, the existing backup solutions haven’t adapted well with these changes.
They still continue to depend upon large computational resources and dedicated and trusted network/media for backups. The reason, I think, is that most of PC backup solutions have been molded out of old server archival products.
In short, the key requirements for an enterprise PC backup should be -
- Simple and Automated
- Non-intrusive - Light weight and resource/power friendly
- Secure and Internet friendly
- WAN and bandwidth optimized
- Support for incremental backup for large files like Outlook PST
- On-demand restore points
Features Explained -
1. Simple and Automated
“Backing up your PC is one of those things, like eating right or changing your oil on time, that everybody knows they’re supposed to do, but too few people actually carry off well…”
Walter Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal
Surprisingly most of the Notebook backup solutions still have calender schedules. IMO, this is prehistoric. The setup should be max 5 steps and schedules as simple as - “Run every 4 hours”.
2. Non-intrusive - Light weight and resource/power friendly
The primary reason employees hate backup is because of the system/network slowdowns caused by the backup which ticks in as soon as the user logs in.
Laptops are replacing desktops in most of the enterprises, but the software still hasn’t evolved. Backups should be resource friendly and optimized low power consumption. Also, simple options like these can make a lot of difference
- Don’t backup when i am on battery
- Consume max 10% of my CPU
- Consume max. 20% of my bandwidth
3. WAN and Bandwidth optimized
Every company has a reasonably good percentage of mobile workforce. And usually this includes the top-tier management (CEO, and likes). With increasing laptop thefts and data risks, backups should be WAN/Internet ready.
The user should be able to choose a bandwidth (something like use 10% of my bandwidth) and the backup solution should just do the job, even over the weakest internet links. This also greatly helps in cross-office backups and backup consolidation efforts.
4. Secure and Internet friendly
Security is very important, specially when you are over WAN/VPN. Most of the backup solutions are Server triggered, making security policies for firewalls and monitoring very diffic ult (every one is afraid, when they see data flowing out of their network).
The backups should be client triggered, so that the server side firewalls just allow and monitor inbound traffic. Also,The solution should be able to securely setup encrypted/authenticated channels to backup. (SSL channels are best, when it comes to WAN/Internet)
5. Support for incremental sync for large files like Outlook PST
With data increasing, and WAN coming into picture it is very important that the backups are incremental in nature and only the changed bits are copied back to the server.
6. On-demand restore (points)
Sending an email to admin to get the data back is surely complete NO, specially when the user may be off-site/traveling. The backup software should facilitate a smart (possibly browser) based remote and secure data restore.
So next time you choose a backup software for your personal or enterprise needs, make sure it has evolved to have the above mentioned features.
And remember - backup more, backup often.
August 23rd, 2008
When it comes to backing up offsite computers it is one area, where many businesses struggle. It isn’t necessarily that there aren’t solutions out there that will work. There are. The problem comes in finding a solution that will perform backups quickly. This is where most other backup software fails, and where our own inSync software truly shines.
Since inSync used up to 90% less bandwidth, and can perform a full backup 10 times faster than most other software, it is the ideal system to use for backing up laptops as well as PCs
Notebook Backup and Why inSync Works
With any software that is intended to backup PCs on a network, traditionally there was a tradeoff between resource usage and the actual data backed up. Backing up an entire hard drive across a network simply takes up too much storage and used too much of the networks resources to be feasible.
To compensate, most backup software used ideas like file compression, or data-mapping. These ideas are adequate for some purposes, but for full backups the software still ends up being slow and fairly resource intensive. Files are still duplicated, storage requirements are still quite large, and bandwidth is still a problem.
This is where inSync is different. With our patent-pending technology, SendUnqiue, our data backup software uses both: a more advanced compression technology and distributed data de-duplication technology. The software has the ability to recognize files that are common across the network, and doesn’t backup the same files twice.
In other words, inSync uses less storage, and less network resources to back up a PC. This makes inSync the ideal tool for backing up offsite computers (and PCs as well) since it takes less time to perform a backup.
If you take the time to read our inSync Benchmarks, it really means the difference between 3 minutes to backup and a full half hour!
August 22nd, 2008
