With digital transformation in full swing, the demand for increasingly scalable, capable, and affordable backup and recovery solutions has never been greater. The managed service offering that gives us relevant and logical ways to help our customers in an evolving business landscape.

A dynamic cloud-based data protection solutions for optimal information resiliency is in need. The scope of service includes flexible options designed to meet the client’s requirements—from monitoring only to a fully-managed solution.

Data Protection with Backup as a Service supports applications, data and infrastructure across on-premises, private cloud, public cloud and hybrid cloud environments.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

• Establish a Pay-per-use “Backup as a Service” Infrastructure on premises.
• Software subscription for the centralized backup and recovery operations.
• Hardware subscription to support the banks objective for a centralized backup and recovery operations.
• Create separate backup and recovery environment that is independent from the production environment.
• Managed services agreement to complement the client’s manpower to ensure completion of backup and recovery.

THE eBiZ SOLUTION

Cloud Backup allows for bare-metal restores as well as data-only backups for widely-used third-party software applications. It features end-to-end encryption to protect your data and intelligent compression and front-end deduplication to reduce your data footprint by up to 99%.

• A single solution to back up all systems.
• Accommodate incoming daily back up for 1000+ systems within back up window.
• Improves recovery point objective and recovery time objective.
• Enhance disaster recovery management.
• A backup solution that creates much more efficiency vs x86 based servers, as CPU utilization is 100% vs just 40% for x86.

KEY BENEFITS

• • Data Security
  • Scalability
  • Mobility
  • Disaster Recovery
  • Control
  • Competitive Edge
  • Efficiency
  • Data Assurance
  • Elasticity

Data Protection with Backup as a Service:

– Enables security-rich, managed on-site or off-site protection of critical data for increased availability
– Helps reduce total cost of ownership with cloud-based data backup solutions
– Eases management of various industry regulation requirements
– Helps customers migrate from legacy tape storage to modern cloud object storage for long-term data retention

CLIENT PROFILE:

Industry: Government Financial Institution

Year Awarded: 2020
Year Completed: 2022
Project Cost: PHP 32.5 M

Year Awarded: 2021
Year Completed: On-Going
Project Cost: PHP 104M+

In the media industry, whether broadcast, print, radio or digital, content is the asset that brings in the viewers, readers, listeners and users. Content and everything that enhances the user experience in engaging with content, are prime investments that creators must protect. A company in this business invests over 60% of its capital in everything content-related. Our Client, a leading broadcaster in the region, wisely acquired a Multimedia Archiving Management System, with the expectation that it can effectively address its concerns.

KEY CHALLENGE

What was Client faced with? The original vendor of the management system failed to configure and commission the back-end archiving system.

THE eBiZ SOLUTION

1. Implementation services for back-end archive system
2. License renewal of back-end archive system
3. For resiliency, eBiZ configured the cluster configuration of the back-end archive system 
4. On-going on-site support services, on-call 24 x 7 since 2014

NET RESULT

The Client now operates and creates content with more confidence.

1. Reliable back-end archive system
2. Highly available system
3. Quick turnaround time to address incidents before impacting the business

CLIENT PROFILE:

Industry: Broadcast and Media

Year Awarded: 2013

Year Completed: On-going

Project Cost: PHP 2M+ annually

The Client is a major outsourcee for one of the key record-keeping agencies of the government. Particularly, the task is to maintain and preserve records of critical public and private assets nationwide. For such a mandate, critical performance parameters include reliability, availability, and resiliency. The Client has come to realize that its performance has started to decline, failing in all of the performance metrics they committed.

In fact, at that stage, it was determined that the Storage solution in place was failing. The client realized imminent disaster was looming as it was similarly determined that the Backup and Recovery Systems are also both unreliable, there. A further challenge was the lack of a reliable disaster recovery facility.

KEY CHALLENGES

As an outsourced service provider, the Client is contracted to perform to a very high service level. And this placed the company in a delicate position at the time, with the following key challenges:

1. Overall SLA with end-user client agency was not being met.
2. The Disaster Recovery Framework or DRF is not meeting the SLA. Current functionality did not support replication between the production data and the DRF.

THE eBiZ SOLUTION

With the scope of the challenge, eBiZ went about a comprehensive solution broken down as follows:

1. Replaced the existing storage with the latest IBM Storwize V7000.
2. Migrate all data from existing storage to IBM Storwize V7000.
3. Migrate all hosts from existing storage to IBM Storwize V7000.
4. Reinstate current IBM Tivoli Storage Manager licenses.
5. Provide a reliable tape library with Ultrium 6 drives.
6. Implement IBM Tivoli Storage Manager to address recovery and disaster recovery management requirement.
7. Transfer existing DRF from Globe Data Center in Cebu to Globe Data Center in Makati.
8. Implement asynchronous storage replication between production and DRF.
9. Configure for the system to enable end-user to conduct DR tests every quarter with system outage.
10. Provide on-site support, 24 x 7 for the duration of the 5-year contract.

THE NET RESULT

The Client is able to focus on meeting its SLAs with the following benefits of the solution:

1. Reliable state-of-the-art mid-range storage system
2. Reliable enterprise-class backup and recovery system
3. Current data is now protected by storage replication and tape media
4. Instant restore of files using Tivoli Storage Manager
5. Backup and Recovery system can restore files since January 2015
6. DR testing is possible every quarter; providing confidence for data reliability and system resiliency
7. Fast turnaround time to address outages related to the delivered system

CLIENT PROFILE:

Industry: Government Service Provider

Year Awarded:  December 2014

Year Completed:  March 2015; System Support December 2019

Number of Employees: 1,500+

The Client is a national regulatory agency. While IT personnel are highly competent in many areas, their skillsets fell short in their capability to manage and operate their current Enterprise BackUp Application (EBA – Tivoli Storage Manager). This limitation is a critical skillset that adversely impacted the Client’s operations and management of the EBA. Meanwhile, systems were either being added or expanded elsewhere in the organization as demand and transactions rapidly grew. Given these parallel scenarios, there was a related need to cover all mission-critical systems as well as back-end servers.

KEY CHALLENGES

Operational efficiency and service levels are being compromised. 

1. There was growing incidence of frequently missed or failed backing up or archiving of vital messages.
2. Datacenter operations were having difficulty coping with demand, as the number of Restore/Retrieve requests steadily rose.
3. There was pressure to maximize the return on the Client’s investment in the Tivoli Storage Manager.

THE eBiZ SOLUTION

Focusing on both the immediate and medium-term requirements of the Client, eBiZ custom-designed a solution that combines both the suitable software license as well as a program that addressed skills and competency development and optimal operations.

1. Provided Tivoli Storage Manager (now known as IBM Spectrum Protect) Annual Software Subscription and Support Renewal from 2017 to 2020
2. Provided consulting services for backup and recovery strategy
3. Deployed backup and archive agents to 120 new nodes.
4. Configured enterprise backup application for efficiency
5. Maximize all backup and recovery hardware peripherals to streamline operations 
6. Provided on-site support service that include:
   1. Fine-tuning of system
   2. Addressing errors / warning messages
   3. Extracting backup and archive performance data for enhancement purposes
   4. Attend planning sessions for future enhancement
7. Provided management reports in relation to enterprise backup application
8. Provided classroom-based IBM Certified Training annually for the client’s IT team

NET RESULT

1. The EBA can now accommodate 200+ clients for backup and archive, thereby maximizing the investment
2. Data Center Operations Department can address all restore/retrieve requests in less than one (1) hour.
3. Efficient use of backup/archive media (Ultrium 4 and Ultrium 6)
4. Effective Disaster and Recovery Management
5. End-user staff are now skilled and more confident in managing and operating the EBA, thereby giving them rightful ownership of the system

CLIENT PROFILE:

Industry: Government Financial Institution

Year Awarded: 2017

Year Completed: 2019

Project Cost: PHP 16M

Serving the general public and covering millions of properties from houses, buildings, and public and private property, the Client is mandated to provide safety from fire and related hazards. With their service footprint, the challenge was the lack of a “common operating picture” during times of emergency. With a fragmented situational view, the Client is unable to determine the location and condition of available resources best able to respond to situations and address emergencies in a timely and effective manner. Once they are able to, however, dispatching systems are also manual and outdated, and they cannot expedite the appropriate response.

Such inefficiency comes at a very high cost: the loss of property and the loss of lives.

OTHER CHALLENGES

Over decades, public service institutions tend to get stuck in a time tunnel:

1. Habitual dependency on available tools like the POTS (Plain Old Telephone Systems) and radios
2. Archaic processes and practices born of the legacy systems and tools in place. Transforming habits and upgrading norms can quickly hit rock-solid walls of resistance.

THE eBiZ SOLUTION

eBiZ very quickly realized the urgent need for the Client to function effectively and position itself favorably in the eyes of the public it serves. People need to feel safe.

eBiZ offered a GIS-based Command and Control System. To bridge decision-making with effective action, the solution came with computer-aided dispatch, enabling immediate deployment of emergency response assets without having to depend on traditional means of communication that can be easily hampered by network congestion. As the Client’s budget was also insufficient to build a full on-prem infrastructure for its data center and a full upgrade of the command center, eBiZ hosted most of the applications via a Cloud-based subscription, allowing a timely launch with a managed budgetary compliance.

Finally, the Client’s ability to deliver emergency services is enhanced by an integrated asset management system.

THE NET RESULT

1. Common-operating-picture for emergency management
2. Centralized computer-aided dispatch
3. Real-time updates from the ground using mobile-based application of command and control system
4. Integrated concept of operations within the command and control system; standard operating procedures in handling fire related emergency
5. Real-time view of asset status and response capabilities

CLIENT PROFILE:

Industry: Government Agency

Year Awarded:  December 2018

Year Completed:  March 2019

Project Cost:  PHP 38M

Number of Employees: 25,000+

A full range of transaction data has been surging for the Client, nearly all of which require long term storage. Being a regulator in the financial sector, the Client’s requirements are par for its sector and its mandate.

However, the Storage system in place is obsolete and therefore, suffers from two major limitations: storage capacity to cope with demands of BackUp and Recovery, and outdated hardware. Given the rapidly increasing buildup of data, the upgrade was treated with extreme urgency.

KEY CHALLENGES

Operational efficiency and service levels are being compromised. 

1. Due to the storage capacity constraints, daily scheduled backups were being pushed outside of the allotted window, hampering operations.
2. Hardware experienced frequent breakdowns, rendering operations to fail on its SLAs.
3. New hardware was needed, requiring a delicate migration.

THE eBiZ SOLUTION

To ensure end-end performance responds to the requirements of the SLA, eBiZ undertook a comprehensive upgrade of the BackUp and Storage infrastructure:

1. New hardware was procured, under the same brand, to eliminate failures. The most cost-effective hardware solution was implemented to address the current requirement.
2. Migration was critical without disrupting operations. eBiZ integrated new hardware without production outage. After successful completion, eBiZ migrated data from the old hardware to the new hardware without production outage. We completed the migration of all data (production and DR) in less than five (5) days.

NET RESULT

1. The solution enabled 80 simultaneous sessions for backup/archive
2. Successfully completed 200 system backups in less than two (2) hours
3. Successfully completed 200 system archive in less than eight (8) hours
4. The new hardware capacity is now 10x more than previous hardware

CLIENT PROFILE:

Industry: Government Financial Institution

Year Awarded: 2018

Year Completed: 2018

Project Cost: PHP 17M

The Client’s IT infrastructure is in place and is generally sound. In its business, data is vital to its performance and delivery of its mandate. Its market is growing; domestically, the population and geographic reach of its services is expanding at a rapid pace. There is also pressure from abroad as globalization deepens its role and influence in diverse aspects of domestic society and the economy. With this pressure, its data Storage capacity had run out. To complicate matters, the data storage system in place was not designed to cope with the resource requirements of the Management Information System Unit. The storage situation was further aggravated by the absence of a BackUp System.

KEY CHALLENGES

1. Incoming data files from various cases from all over the country far exceeded available storage.
2. Compute resources to handle incoming systems was also fast running out.

The eBiZ SOLUTION 

1. eBiZ installed a scalable and robust Hyperconverged system
2. Enterprise Storage System utilizing the latest in flash technology
3. Enterprise-class backup and recovery system

NET RESULT

1. State-of-the-art Hyperconverged system with the following benefits:
   a. Simplifies future deployments
   b. Increases flexibility of the system and infrastructure
   c. Ownership costs are reduced
   d. Enables operational scalability
   e. Increased reliability
   f. Enables maximizing of all resources
   g. IT becomes future-proof
2. The latest in storage technology with enough capacity for the next five (5) years.
   eBiZ considered historical growth data to design the capacity to handle demand over the next 5 years, allowing the Client to focus its core resources in operations and management.
3. Enterprise-class backup and recovery system with disaster recovery management
   Again, with the sensitivity of its data, providing this solution allows the Client to operate with greater confidence and security.

CLIENT PROFILE:

Industry: Government

Year Awarded: 2018

Year Completed: 2019

Project Cost: P285M