Any document, spreadsheet, or other type of file is at risk if it exists in only one location. Hard drive malfunction and computer viruses, as well as things like fire and human error can and do happen to computer systems. When these problems occur, some or all of your data can be lost forever – weeks or months of work can disappear in an instant. The best protection from such a disaster is to have multiple versions of the data, including at least one copy stored in an alternate location. This is the basic principle behind all backup strategies.

Many businesses have a backup procedure already in place.  However, they may not be aware of the alternatives to their current expensive, manual, archaic tape-based backup processes. With business operations so reliant on information technology, it is vitally important to identify alternatives that can eliminate vulnerabilities.  In addition, it is important to utilize an effective data protection service that will allow you to quickly restore business operations.

Info Exchange offers a unique online data backup solution within client/server architecture. The Info Exchange online data backup service, The Internet Data Vault, allows users to back up data to a remote, offsite location over existing internet bandwidth.
 
The following are some key points to consider when evaluating your company’s data protection procedures:

• Data loss prevention
• Infrastructure scalability
• Comprehensive data security
• Fast data restoration
• Total Cost of Ownership
• Solution for critical application and distributed data
• Ease of use
• Restore Time Objectives (RTO)
• Simple graphical user interface

Info Exchange’s Internet Data Vault is a powerful and easy-to-use solution designed to provide data protection to all businesses. The automated service is built around a client software program, the IV-Client, which runs on a schedule, typically once a day. This program identifies new or changed data for backup, and then compresses, encrypts, and transfers the data to the Info Exchange data vault.

Software is installed:
We install our agentless software solution onto one computer (server or desktop) on your LAN. Regardless of how many servers you have, it will only need to be loaded once. In a typical situation of one server, an installation will take an average of 30 to 40 minutes.

Automated schedule and retention:
During the installation process, you will decide the start time, frequency and time limit of your automated backup. You will also establish the number of versions you want stored in your vault. Each version represents the status of the data at the point in time of the backup, capturing any changes since the last backup. Once the maximum number of versions has been reached, the next backup will force a merger of version #1 in to the main body of data, making that the new version of the Initial Backup.

Initial backup (Seed):
The initial backup is the process of sending all client selected data to the data vault in its encrypted and compressed format.

Delta block processing:
After completion of the initial backup, the IV-Client will then only process the actual changes to your data using our delta blocking technology. Delta blocking technology reviews the existing data in variable sized smaller blocks, searching for changes in the data since the last backup. Once found, only the unique block level changes are processed for offsite storage.

Once the software activates itself, it will scan your data for any and all changes that have been made since the last transfer. It will break the data down into blocks and each scheduled backup will scan the blocks for changes or the addition of new data.
Upon the discovery of new delta blocks the data is automatically processed. These changes are held as different point in time copies called versions. An unlimited number of versions can be retained on the data vaults.

Encryption and compression:
Once new data has been found for backup processing the client software will compress and encrypt the data and transfer that information to be established as a generation.  Our encryption setting is defaulted to ON and cannot be turned off. The client administrator however can choose between two different encryption types: Blowfish or AES.

Data transfer:
Only encrypted data is transferred over your existing Internet connection to our secure Data Vault.  In order for the transfer to take place, your Internet connection must be active at the time of the scheduled backup.

Data vault replication:
Our goal is to provide our clients with a very simple and reliable backup and recovery solution. Info Exchange guarantees that your data will be there for you if you ever need it. To ensure that our guarantee is more than just words, we duplicate your copy for an additional backup within our Network. 

Designed for high performance backup and recovery, The Internet Data Vault protects your critical business data automatically at a secure off-shore data center. Whether you are managing a small office or many servers, The Internet Data Vault provides the same ease-of-use and efficiency.

Agentless
The Internet Data Vault does not require installation of software ‘agents’ or ‘clients’ on all of the Servers/PCs targeted for backup. In addition, the IV-Client does not have to install ‘plugins’ or other software programs to protect databases or email servers.  While some of our competitors require multiple installations per machine, we use the existing protocols (SSH) and functionality which the operating system, email and database application vendors utilize within their own programs.

In-file Deduplication
In-file de-duplication is the data vault’s ability to keep one copy of content that multiple users or computers may share.  It is a means to eliminate data duplication and to increase efficiency. When the in-file deduplication process finds identical files, it saves one copy of the file to a central repository called the Library. Each backup set where the common information resides will have a pointer to the stored versions.

Open File Management
Our open file management backup process enables the backup of almost any file utilizing the Open Document Manager (ODM) application technology. This technology allows our IV-Client application read-level access below the operating system where the application level locks reside.

Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Level Backup & Restore
Email has quickly become the single most widely used feature of the Internet, and many companies consider it a critical communication tool. Lost or corrupted emails can cause significant damage, including irretrievable business loss. For customers utilizing Microsoft Exchange, the Mailbox Level Backup & Restore tool facilitates and enables predetermined levels of email backups and restores, ranging from an entire Exchange info store, to a single user’s email box.
 
LAN-Based Local Data Vault
Local disk backup is ideal for customers with available storage capacity on their local LAN who require rapid, seamless business continuity. The Local Data Vault enables you to save data processed by the IV-Client locally, thereby ensuring that relevant backup sets are always available for immediate restoration at LAN speed.  The Local Data Vault feature is unique within the online backup industry since data saved locally does not also have to be stored offsite.
Laptop / Standalone PC

Info Exchange‘s Internet Data Vault is flexible enough to accommodate portable or single PC users, whose requirements are limited to fast, simple, single PC backups / restores, due to its extremely small footprint and low machine resource overhead.

Microsoft SQL & Microsoft Exchange Backup
Info Exchange provides the “hot” backup of a Microsoft SQL 2000/2005 database or MS Exchange 2000/2003/2007 Information Store without installing software or ‘plug-ins’ on the server where the application resides.

In addition, the “hot” backup functionality allows a backup of the application without having to be taken offline to get a complete backup (including transaction logs) of a chosen database or information store. To complete this process we have embedded Microsoft certified API calls into the IV-Client that allows the software to interact directly with the application data engine and request a duplicate data stream of the application data. This duplicate stream contains the necessary information for a full backup without having to stop the application or ‘dump’ the application data.

If there is a loss of data, be it a single lost file or a complete loss of all data, the process to restore the information is simple and fast. The end user is instructed by the software to access the data and how to quickly place it back into the system.

The following scenarios allow for different procedures of data restoration:

Individual Files – By logging in to the IV-Client you can select a version of individual files for data restoration.  In addition, the IV-Client provides the ability to search within backup sets for the location of individual files, directories or file extension.

Loss of Customer Server/PC – In the event of data loss on a non-CS Client machine you can quickly restore all lost data within a backup set to an alternate location on the network. The restore may be completed using the offsite Internet Data Vault or the Local Data Vault for faster downloads.

Loss of Customer Location – If the location in which the data resides becomes inaccessible Info Exchange can send the data to an alternate location. Upon request, Info Exchange can process the data on to a portable data vault (USB Storage Device) and ship the device to an alternate location. The data will be shipped within its encrypted format and the encryption key will be required for the data restore process.

We review all aspects of our processes to ensure the integrity and security of our client’s data. We review security within three separate segments of the service.

Customer Location

Usernames and passwords.
Our software can be configured post-install with a username and password. This username and password must be entered each time to gain access to our software.

Data Transmission
Proprietary software format used.
All client data is transmitted in the proprietary Info Exchange software format, as well as being compressed and encrypted. Without a properly authorized IV-Client installation, the data is unreadable.

Encryption
To insure the security of our client’s data, our software automatically encrypts every file it sends over the internet with an encryption key provided by the client during the installation process.  Info Exchange utilizes US Government approved encryption algorithms to generate its public and private key pairs and supports an industry leading key size up to 256 bits.

All of the client’s files are stored and remain encrypted on our secure data vaults at all times. The decryption process occurs automatically during the restore operation by our software at the client site.  All client data therefore is encrypted before it leaves the client site and not decrypted until it is back at the client site. This ensures that all backup data transferred and stored outside the client’s location is always protected.

Note:  Info Exchange cannot reset encryption keys nor do we retain encryption keys for end-users.

Block level changes
After the initial seed backup Info Exchange creates a customer specified number of versions based upon block level changes. The software completes a review process during each backup set which recognizes and captures block level changes to files since the last backup. Only the changed blocks are processed offsite for retention.

Block level changes enhance security by only sending bits and pieces of data to complete a daily full backup. Complete files are not sent, only fragments of files which would be unusable without the seed data.

Info Exchange Data Center

Physical security
All client data resides in its encrypted format behind the firewall. In addition, our Data Vaults reside in a secure state-of-the-art co-location facility with redundant internet bandwidth, power, and backup generators. Physical access to our system is guarded by three separate pass key entrances and each Data Vault is within a locked cabinet.

Facility redundancy
Complete redundancy for bandwidth and power are a mandatory requirement for all facilities in which our Data Vaults are located.  For example: The Marlboro, Massachusetts Data Vault maintains 2 separate bandwidth providers for constant internet availability and capacity. In addition, dual conduits in to the building for both power and bandwidth are utilized. Power is support by UPS, battery backup and diesel generators and utilizes an automatic transfer switch to transfer power in the event of an emergency.