When people ask me about my company and how we're doing, given that "backup tapes are dead", I simply reply that they are much more prevalent than you realize. I think most people assume that older, outdated companies must be the only ones using backup tapes these days. Wrong, my friend, so wrong.

As you may know, Gmail was inaccessible to quite a few of its users last week, causing panic and worries that the end times had arrived. Google was able to right itself by using...drumroll please.......Backup Tapes! Yes, you read that right, Google, purveyor of all things new and shiny, used tried-and-true backup tapes to restore its users Gmail accounts. The moral of this story? Backup tapes are alive and well and employed by Google.

To read an article about Google and it's backup tapes, click here.

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E-discovery and ECM leader offers Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP) for network-attached storage (NAS) devices

PRESS RELEASE: ATLANTA – May 25, 2010 – eMag Solutions, LLC, a global provider of enterprise content management (ECM) and electronic discovery solutions, announces its enhanced Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP) capabilities for law firms and corporations. NDMP is a method of backing up stand-alone NAS (network-attached storage) devices that otherwise would not allow for the installation of a backup agent because of their closed architecture. NDMP is not a backup format but a way for the network appliance to communicate with the backup server and deliver the data to the tape/disk storage. This type of restoration is common for large corporations and technical companies that host terabytes of data on an NAS storage device.

A standard method of restoring an NDMP backup requires the presence of the original or similar NAS device, an appropriate version of the backup software and the corresponding NDMP agent. It is the only reliable way to restore the data to the state as it existed on the original appliance. This typically involves considerable expense on the corporation’s part to acquire the necessary hardware and backup software, including the NDMP agents. eMag's approach to NDMP deals directly with the backup stream created by those NAS devices (for example, NDMP from NetApp and EMC), thus eliminating much of these costs.  The nuances of working with each type are thoroughly discussed and coordinated with the client and comprehensive planning is custom tailored to their needs. eMag Solutions is constantly developing its current procedures to bring the most efficient and cost-effective NDMP services to the company's valued clients.

About eMag Solutions
eMag Solutions, LLC is an international Patriarch Partners company headquartered in Atlanta, GA with additional data service centers in New York City and the United Kingdom. eMag Solutions, LLC offers a wide spectrum of professional data services that enables its worldwide client base rapid access to data that has become hidden, forgotten, unreachable, unknown or corrupted. eMag achieves this through use of its unparalleled knowledge of backup systems and data structures built during more than 40 years in the data storage industry. eMag Solutions is proud to be the first and ONLY e-Discovery provider in the US to achieve ISO27001 certification around information management and security for its data processing facilities. For more information, visit www.emagsolutions.com or call 800-364-9838 or +44 (0)2920 739940 outside of the United States.

About Patriarch Partners
Patriarch Partners, LLC is a private equity and investment firm headquartered in New York City. Founded by Lynn Tilton in 2000, Ms. Tilton serves as Chief Executive Officer and sole Principal of Patriarch Partners, LLC and its affiliated entities. Patriarch provides innovative financial solutions, strategic direction and operational expertise to companies undergoing periods of operational, industrial and economic change. Funds affiliated with Patriarch manage assets in excess of $7 billion and include majority and minority ownership positions in more than 70 companies. For more information, please visit www.patriarchpartners.com.

W. Lawrence Wescott looks to address what companies should expect when handling backup tapes during the eDiscovery process in his article Shedding Light on Backup Tape E-Discovery.

Items addressed in the article include:

• A look at the original intent of backups -- Disaster Recovery
• A look at the common use of backups -- Data History
• Backup tapes subject to eDiscovery (duty to preserve, storage & tape costs, data collecting, culling, review, retention and spoliation)
  
• Accessible or not?
• Strategies to minimize risk

This article is a great overview of backup tapes and the role they play in eDiscovery and definitely worth reading and sharing.

If you would like more information about backup tapes (the ins-&-outs, the different types of media, restoration times, etc), visit eMag's resources page.  We have links, whitepapers, you name it, everything you ever wanted to know (and some things you didn't) about backup tapes.

eMag Solutions will be in Maryland next week for ILTA 09.  Look for us on the tradeshow floor, booth #516, where we will have a demo of our new release, eMag PreVu 3.0.  While I will not personally be there, I have recruited my manager, Brett Tarr, to Tweet from the event.  He'll be giving us the scoop on all the latest action and excitement!  Ok, perhaps I'm being a little hyperbolic.  None-the-less, he'll be sharing with us the latest insight and updates in the legal technology arena that emerge from ILTA 09.  Stop by and introduce yourself, we'd love to meet those with whom we chat via this blog and Twitter. 

If you'd like to reach out to Brett, you may contact him via email: btarr@emagsolutions.com

We look forward to seeing you there!