Improving backup-as-a-service and reducing costs

Systemec - a B2B full-service Internet service provider, system integrator, and cloud service provider - has selected NAKIVO Backup & Replication to deliver VM Backup-as-a-Service.

Systemec has three state-of-the-art datacenters: two in Venlo (Netherlands), and one in Nettetal (Germany), which are connected via a dark fiber. The company provides local businesses with DSL and fiber Internet, connectivity, VoIP, SaaS, security, datacenter hosting, and data protection, since 1997. Systemec also offers VMware-based public and private cloud solutions to their customers.

Systemec’s customers vary from local government and healthcare to retail and logistics and are typically small to medium businesses, all of them looking for reliable IT solutions from a local provider. Systemec has strict security standards and is certified in the Netherlands for hosting medical records in our datacenters.

As a cloud service provider, Systemec runs a variety of VMware VMs that they need to protect. Their customers use a wide range of VMware VMs running all types of applications and databases, including Microsoft Exchange, Oracle, Microsoft SQL, Windows and Linux webservers, VoIP servers, and so on.

Systemec has been using a first generation VM backup solution, which did not have a Web user interface and could be accessed only via a VMware console or RDP. This way, the access to VM backups could not be granted to other users or customers. As a result, Systemec team members had a higher workload, since customers regularly requested to recover their files and entire VMs.

“Our goal was to simplify the VM backup process, provide customers with access to their backup data, and give them the ability to recover files and application objects for themselves, without our assistance,” said Marco Teelen, Manager of Internet Services.

In search for a better VM backup solution, the team at Systemec came across NAKIVO Backup & Replication. They appreciated that the product can be installed on Linux, which is free, requires less maintenance than Windows servers, and is more secure. In lab tests, NAKIVO has delivered on the team requirements: Web based user interface, superior VM backup performance, and a complete feature set, including the instant Exchange objects recovery feature, which was not available in the previuos solution.

The key feature for Systemec, however, was Multi-tenancy, which enables cloud providers to create isolated tenants, while each tenant can access only their own backups via a self-service interface. “We were impressed with the features and support while testing the product, and an excellent pricing compared to the competition,” said Marco.

Systemec is leveraging NAKIVO Backup & Replication to backup customer VMs (some of which have up to 200 VMs). NAKIVO backups are mainly used for long term storage, depending on the needs of the customer.

With the Multi-Tenancy, Systemec can now offer staff members and customers access to the backups of their VM’s, which speeds up the recovery process. “NAKIVO's multi-tenancy and self-service has saved Systemec more than 20% in operational data protection and cloud services costs by enabling users to manage VM backups themselves.” said Marco Teelen, Manager of Internet Services. “NAKIVO helps us maintain reliable image backups for our VMs. The reporting, web based access, and simple process to do a restore saves us time while reducing calls to our helpdesk on a daily basis, and in the end results in happy customers,” said Marco.