Node4 launches Disaster Recovery as a Service to provide failover in the event of a man-made or natural catastrophe

Node4 has launched Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) to help new and existing customers to recover all files and applications in the event of any catastrophe or network outage. The new service is based on an OPEX pricing model and provides a cost-effective near real time replication solution that can be activated within minutes should a disaster occur.

Node4 has partnered with Zerto, an award-winning provider of enterprise-class disaster recovery and business continuity software specifically designed for a virtualised infrastructure, to deliver this service via its N4Cloud infrastructure. Unlike traditional storage or snapshot-based backup, DRaaS provides continuous replication of all data and applications at a RPO (recovery point objective) of minutes, as well as a five-day journal-based replication, that can recover any data from multiple points over that time period.

According to research group MarketandMarkets, the global DRaaS and cloud based business continuity markets are forecasted to grow from $640.8 million in 2013 to $5.77 billion by 2018. This reflects the increasing demand for real-time replication, particularly from small to medium sized organisations that don’t have the budget or expertise to manage such a solution in-house.

“Organisations of all sizes and in every sector rely on their technology infrastructure to service customers, compete for business and increase revenue. Should that infrastructure go down, successful companies cannot afford to rely on traditional backup technologies where a snapshot of their system could be hours or even days old. The fast pace of today’s modern business and the ‘always on’ culture means that near real time replication is no longer a nice to have, it is a necessity,” explained Natalie Stewart, Product Manager, Node4.

“When you combine this business need with the increase in natural catastrophes such as the recent flooding in the South of the UK and Hurricane Sandy in the US, savvy businesses realise they need a full-proof solution that can be activated immediately, should the worst happen. Our DRaaS provides this safety net and is part of our on-going commitment to providing customers with best in class solutions for business continuity and disaster planning.”

Node4’s DRaaS is available on an OPEX-based pricing model. Customers pay a standby rate on a month-to-month basis and only incur the total cost when the system is being fully utilised. DRaaS is storage agnostic and through N4Cloud it can replicate from any existing VMWare environment negating the need to purchase additional hardware. Node4’s DRaaS is available immediately from Node4 and existing partners.