Rachel Dines

Cloud native architectures are churning out more data, increasing the cost of observability. But there are better ways to manage these expenses.

Attacking each piece of the MTTR equation and finding ways to shorten each step could be a good place to start improving.

This summer we saw a lot of buzz around cloud, especially in the storage world. From acquisitions to price drops, to new announcements of funding and even large enterprises like Conde Nast announcing that they are closing data centers to move to the cloud, one thing is clear: cloud infrastructure is reaching the next stage of maturity. And for those of us in the continuity and resiliency space, why should we care? Well, a recent study from Enterprise Strategy Group showed that of organizations… Show more

This summer we saw a lot of buzz around cloud, especially in the storage world. From acquisitions to price drops, to new announcements of funding and even large enterprises like Conde Nast announcing that they are closing data centers to move to the cloud, one thing is clear: cloud infrastructure is reaching the next stage of maturity. And for those of us in the continuity and resiliency space, why should we care? Well, a recent study from Enterprise Strategy Group showed that of organizations that had already adopted cloud infrastructure, the top two use cases for that cloud infrastructure were backup and archive and disaster recovery—each at 44 percent adoption. In addition, Forrester studies over the past few years have found time and again that one of the top drivers of infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) is for disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity. Clearly, more organizations are getting comfortable with the idea Show less

Cloud price wars make Storage-as-a-Service more compelling than ever, but other barriers still delay adoption

In Forrester's 61-criteria evaluation of enterprise backup and recovery software vendors, we identified the six most significant software providers — ASG, CommVault, EMC, HP, IBM, and Symantec — in the category and researched, analyzed, and scored them. This report details our findings about how well each vendor fulfills our criteria and where they stand in relation to each other to help infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals select the right partner for their backup and recovery… Show more

In Forrester's 61-criteria evaluation of enterprise backup and recovery software vendors, we identified the six most significant software providers — ASG, CommVault, EMC, HP, IBM, and Symantec — in the category and researched, analyzed, and scored them. This report details our findings about how well each vendor fulfills our criteria and where they stand in relation to each other to help infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals select the right partner for their backup and recovery software suites. Show less

This report defines and dissects the intersections and future directions of the solutions that make up the business technology (BT) resiliency landscape. It also identifies and catalogs the vendors and providers that deliver these solutions. Forrester has uncovered eight disruptive technologies that infrastructure & operations (I&O) professionals must keep on their watchlist for 2013 and beyond: file sync and mobile access, cloud-to-cloud backup, cloud-based disaster recovery (DR) services… Show more

This report defines and dissects the intersections and future directions of the solutions that make up the business technology (BT) resiliency landscape. It also identifies and catalogs the vendors and providers that deliver these solutions. Forrester has uncovered eight disruptive technologies that infrastructure & operations (I&O) professionals must keep on their watchlist for 2013 and beyond: file sync and mobile access, cloud-to-cloud backup, cloud-based disaster recovery (DR) services, cloud gateways and connectors, continuity automation, hypervisor replication, virtualized continuity tools, and automated communication and notification tools. Show less

This report outlines Forrester's solution for developing effective objectives and metrics for business technology resiliency (BTR) programs. The current state of BTR metrics is unsatisfactory — most programs focus too much on the alphabet soup of recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs). As a result, many lose track of critical components of a mature BTR program, such as business sponsor involvement, vetting and testing recovery capabilities, and keeping plans… Show more

This report outlines Forrester's solution for developing effective objectives and metrics for business technology resiliency (BTR) programs. The current state of BTR metrics is unsatisfactory — most programs focus too much on the alphabet soup of recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs). As a result, many lose track of critical components of a mature BTR program, such as business sponsor involvement, vetting and testing recovery capabilities, and keeping plans current and relevant. Norton and Kaplan's Balanced Scorecard (BSC) can be an effective framework for guiding infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals toward the right set of metrics that focus on all aspects of continuity and resilience. This report also outlines the BSC methodology and how I&O professionals can apply it to their BTR practice. Show less

Historically, disaster recovery (DR) preparedness required substantial time and financial investment. For many, DR was out of reach, and for others, it was a burdensome task that often felt like an expensive insurance policy. Today, cloud-based DR is poised to shake up legacy approaches and offer frustrated infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals a great alternative. Instead of enterprises buying resources in case of a disaster, cloud computing and its pay-per-use pricing model allows… Show more

Historically, disaster recovery (DR) preparedness required substantial time and financial investment. For many, DR was out of reach, and for others, it was a burdensome task that often felt like an expensive insurance policy. Today, cloud-based DR is poised to shake up legacy approaches and offer frustrated infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals a great alternative. Instead of enterprises buying resources in case of a disaster, cloud computing and its pay-per-use pricing model allows them to pay for long-term data storage while only paying for servers if they have a need to spin them up for testing or in the event of a disaster. This provides significant cost reduction and removes several barriers to entry for many firms looking for faster recovery than what they can receive from tape. This report explores the use cases for DR in the cloud, the different models and providers today, and the benefits and risks of this approach. Show less

Most enterprises claim they fully exercise their disaster recovery plans at least once per year, however, evidence suggests that the majority of these exercises are not comprehensive and thorough; enterprises often just exercise a portion of the plan or a subset of applications. Here are10 best practices for updating and improving your current disaster recovery exercise program.

Earthquakes, tornadoes, monsoons, hurricanes, flooding, and other severe natural disasters have brought alarming devastation to regions around the world over the past several years. As the human, financial, and ecological toll of these successive events continue, business continuity, disaster recovery (BC/DR), and risk managers want to know what they can learn from these events that can help them better prepare for future disasters. In this report, we use the March 2011 earthquake and… Show more

Earthquakes, tornadoes, monsoons, hurricanes, flooding, and other severe natural disasters have brought alarming devastation to regions around the world over the past several years. As the human, financial, and ecological toll of these successive events continue, business continuity, disaster recovery (BC/DR), and risk managers want to know what they can learn from these events that can help them better prepare for future disasters. In this report, we use the March 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan to illustrate a series of lessons for risk managers around the world. We use the Japanese crisis as our example, not because Japan was ill prepared — in fact, experts have long hailed Japan for its emergency preparedness, and this event supported these claims — but because the scale and magnitude of the disaster gives us the opportunity to highlight a wide range of ways to strengthen your organization's resilience with improvements to people, process, technology, and oversight. Apply these lessons to help prepare for any risk scenario, whether it's extreme weather, a human-made event, or a pandemic. Show less

"What's the difference between a backup and an archive?" and "Do I need to have separate backups and archives?" are two common questions that Forrester receives from enterprise clients. Despite the fact that neither backup nor archiving are new concepts, there's a still a significant amount of confusion between the two. Although it's been several years since we first produced this report, the best practices for establishing backup and archiving have not changed. What has evolved are the… Show more

"What's the difference between a backup and an archive?" and "Do I need to have separate backups and archives?" are two common questions that Forrester receives from enterprise clients. Despite the fact that neither backup nor archiving are new concepts, there's a still a significant amount of confusion between the two. Although it's been several years since we first produced this report, the best practices for establishing backup and archiving have not changed. What has evolved are the technologies that enable backup and archiving: Disk deduplication has become more prevalent, tapes have become much denser, adoption of cloud-based archiving approaches has accelerated, and new data classification and eDiscovery platforms make it easier to find the information needed in a timely manner.
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Data centers are running low on space, power, and cooling. When it comes time to provision new data center capacity, IT infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals are faced with the critical decision to either lease or build. There are use cases for both approaches. Leasing a data center presents an attractive operational expenditure model, better access to space and power, and the ability to expand faster. Building a data center provides more control over the facility and its operations… Show more

Data centers are running low on space, power, and cooling. When it comes time to provision new data center capacity, IT infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals are faced with the critical decision to either lease or build. There are use cases for both approaches. Leasing a data center presents an attractive operational expenditure model, better access to space and power, and the ability to expand faster. Building a data center provides more control over the facility and its operations and allows organizations to leverage and share existing space. So what should you do? Forrester's Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) analysis finds that building a data center is not economical for most companies. This report will help infrastructure and operations professionals decide when to lease and when to build a data center given their unique circumstances. Show less

Running always-on, always-available IT services has long been a pipe dream for infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals. To realize this dream, companies must first define the recovery and availability requirements for all application tiers and select the appropriate technologies to support the needs of those tiers. But with a complex and ever-changing ecosystem of technologies and vendors, technology selection is a major hurdle for achieving desired results. This report maps the key… Show more

Running always-on, always-available IT services has long been a pipe dream for infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals. To realize this dream, companies must first define the recovery and availability requirements for all application tiers and select the appropriate technologies to support the needs of those tiers. But with a complex and ever-changing ecosystem of technologies and vendors, technology selection is a major hurdle for achieving desired results. This report maps the key technologies that I&O professionals use to support their continuity objectives and aims to shed light on the current value and future evolution of these technologies. I&O professionals can use this TechRadar to select the technologies that best suit their individual needs as well as plan future investments.
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Advancements in virtualization, hardware performance, and efficiency have given infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders a wealth of options for delivering great services faster and more cheaply — and for surviving the plunge in global economic growth. But what about enterprise disaster recovery (DR) preparedness? This report outlines five trends in how enterprises are architecting their DR solutions today, including: secondary site configuration and separation, cloud recovery, tiers of… Show more

Advancements in virtualization, hardware performance, and efficiency have given infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders a wealth of options for delivering great services faster and more cheaply — and for surviving the plunge in global economic growth. But what about enterprise disaster recovery (DR) preparedness? This report outlines five trends in how enterprises are architecting their DR solutions today, including: secondary site configuration and separation, cloud recovery, tiers of applications, and causes of disasters. For I&O pros looking to improve their DR programs, the key is in process improvement. Rather than investing in the latest and greatest technology, focus on putting a solid framework in place of DR processes, and preparing for the most likely causes of downtime. Show less

How would you rate your ability to recover your data center in the event of a site failure or a disaster? The vast majority of your peers surveyed in a 2010 joint Forrester Research/Disaster Recovery Journal survey answered that they felt "very prepared" or "prepared." But are they really? The same study found that disaster recovery (DR) spending has declined, testing has remained flat, plan maintenance occurs less frequently, and actual recovery times have increased. While DR clearly remains a… Show more

How would you rate your ability to recover your data center in the event of a site failure or a disaster? The vast majority of your peers surveyed in a 2010 joint Forrester Research/Disaster Recovery Journal survey answered that they felt "very prepared" or "prepared." But are they really? The same study found that disaster recovery (DR) spending has declined, testing has remained flat, plan maintenance occurs less frequently, and actual recovery times have increased. While DR clearly remains a priority, many organizations have lulled themselves into a false sense of security. Consider this your wake-up call: The majority of companies are less prepared for an outage today than they were three years ago. Show less

It's been almost two years since we last produced this report, and during that time the vendor landscape has changed considerably; however, one constant remains true: Backup is a struggle for both enterprises and small and medium-size businesses (SMBs). It's a complex ecosystem of software, networks, servers, disk appliances, and, yes, tape systems still. Many firms continue to have difficulty completing backups in the time available, and a large number of backups fail or complete with errors… Show more

It's been almost two years since we last produced this report, and during that time the vendor landscape has changed considerably; however, one constant remains true: Backup is a struggle for both enterprises and small and medium-size businesses (SMBs). It's a complex ecosystem of software, networks, servers, disk appliances, and, yes, tape systems still. Many firms continue to have difficulty completing backups in the time available, and a large number of backups fail or complete with errors. In addition, there are gaps in backup coverage. Most SMBs and enterprises still fail to protect corporate PCs, and enterprises often don't protect servers at remote and branch offices. Given the continued headaches associated with backup and the gaps in coverage, many firms are considering an online backup service to either supplement or replace their current infrastructure. These solutions have been traditionally called backup software-as-a-service, but they're increasingly known as online backup or cloud backup. Show less

Backup is not the sexiest process in infrastructure and operations; it's akin to getting your teeth cleaned: necessary, but often painful. Many enterprises struggle with exponential data growth, shrinking backup windows, and static budgets — which leads to the classic conundrum of how to back up more data in less time with the same amount of money. Selecting the right backup and recovery solution isn't any easier than the process itself. With dozens of providers, a laundry list of technical… Show more

Backup is not the sexiest process in infrastructure and operations; it's akin to getting your teeth cleaned: necessary, but often painful. Many enterprises struggle with exponential data growth, shrinking backup windows, and static budgets — which leads to the classic conundrum of how to back up more data in less time with the same amount of money. Selecting the right backup and recovery solution isn't any easier than the process itself. With dozens of providers, a laundry list of technical features, and the constantly changing landscape, it's no wonder that many infrastructure and operations professionals would rather take a trip to the dentist than replace their aging backup infrastructure. This report will outline the key features you should consider when evaluating your next backup and recovery solution, as well as the leading providers in the market for enterprise-class solutions. Show less

Tape is not dead, and in fact, a large number of companies still rely heavily on tape for disaster recovery (DR). Tape is affordable and removable, but as the requirement to recover IT services after a disruption has moved from days to hours, backup and recovery from tape is unfortunately no longer good enough. Many companies still operate under the assumption that traditional DR strategies anchored by storage replication are out of their price range. However, there is a range of replication… Show more

Tape is not dead, and in fact, a large number of companies still rely heavily on tape for disaster recovery (DR). Tape is affordable and removable, but as the requirement to recover IT services after a disruption has moved from days to hours, backup and recovery from tape is unfortunately no longer good enough. Many companies still operate under the assumption that traditional DR strategies anchored by storage replication are out of their price range. However, there is a range of replication alternatives to storage replication that lower cost and are more bandwidth-efficient. In addition, with continued price declines, even storage replication is not necessarily out of reach for many companies. It's time for IT professionals to familiarize themselves with the range of replication alternatives and to revisit DR strategies. Show less

In Forrester's 64-criteria evaluation of disaster recovery services providers, we found that IBM, HP, SunGard, and ICM led the pack due to their best-in-class core disaster recovery services and vision. Verizon trailed closely behind, with the largest market share and a strong consulting arm. CAPS Business Recovery Services, a regional player offering work-area recovery and colocation services for IT recovery, greatly improved its strategy and current offering scores since the last update of… Show more

In Forrester's 64-criteria evaluation of disaster recovery services providers, we found that IBM, HP, SunGard, and ICM led the pack due to their best-in-class core disaster recovery services and vision. Verizon trailed closely behind, with the largest market share and a strong consulting arm. CAPS Business Recovery Services, a regional player offering work-area recovery and colocation services for IT recovery, greatly improved its strategy and current offering scores since the last update of this Forrester Wave. Show less

Are you running out of data center space or planning for a backup data center? Today, more companies are looking to colocation and managed services in lieu of building their own facility. Why? For many, the upfront capital required to build a facility is prohibitive and the lead time too long. Additionally, in areas like Western Europe that have limited power availability, negotiating with utility companies to provide sufficient power at a reasonable rate can be difficult. As a result, adoption… Show more

Are you running out of data center space or planning for a backup data center? Today, more companies are looking to colocation and managed services in lieu of building their own facility. Why? For many, the upfront capital required to build a facility is prohibitive and the lead time too long. Additionally, in areas like Western Europe that have limited power availability, negotiating with utility companies to provide sufficient power at a reasonable rate can be difficult. As a result, adoption of colocation and managed services in Western Europe is growing quickly, outpacing adoption in the US. This report will outline factors to consider when choosing a provider and location for colocation and managed services in Western Europe, including risk profile, cost, and availability of utilities, labor, space, and, of course, the regulatory environment. Show less

Diversity in IT departments has always been a sensitive subject. Many firms simply don't get a lot of diverse candidates applying to work in their IT departments, but they don't know why. And the problem isn't getting any better. Over the past few years, the number of women and underrepresented minorities (URMs) in IT has been dropping steadily. To combat this, infrastructure and operations (I&O) departments must take a different approach to recruiting and retaining employees. This will not… Show more

Diversity in IT departments has always been a sensitive subject. Many firms simply don't get a lot of diverse candidates applying to work in their IT departments, but they don't know why. And the problem isn't getting any better. Over the past few years, the number of women and underrepresented minorities (URMs) in IT has been dropping steadily. To combat this, infrastructure and operations (I&O) departments must take a different approach to recruiting and retaining employees. This will not only increase the number of women and URMs, it will also help attract your next wave of employees — the Millennials — which by 2020 will be made up of 44% minorities, the most of any US generation. Show less

Forrester Research and the Disaster Recovery Journal have partnered to field a number of market studies in business continuity and disaster recovery (DR) in order to gather data for company comparison and benchmarking and to guide research and publication of best practices and recommendations for the industry. This is the fourth annual joint survey study, and it’s focused on gathering a baseline of company DR preparedness. This study repeated many of the questions that we asked in 2007, to… Show more

Forrester Research and the Disaster Recovery Journal have partnered to field a number of market studies in business continuity and disaster recovery (DR) in order to gather data for company comparison and benchmarking and to guide research and publication of best practices and recommendations for the industry. This is the fourth annual joint survey study, and it’s focused on gathering a baseline of company DR preparedness. This study repeated many of the questions that we asked in 2007, to determine what has changed in DR in the past three years. Show less