Highly regulated, multinational enterprises save millions in long-term backup storage with Veeam, Opti9 and Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive

The business challenge

As a managed cloud and IT infrastructure solutions provider, Opti9 has a deep focus on providing fully managed Disaster Recovery and Backupsas- a-Service. Opti9 is often tasked with handling these services for organizations that have complex technical and non-technical requirements. From a technical standpoint, these requirements include supporting multiple platforms such as VMware, HyperV, Physical Servers, IBM Power, and direct storage, in-depth network integrations with SD-WAN, MPLS, and automated network failover via dynamic routing. Some of the nontechnical requirements that need to be met include high compliance requirements, cybersecurity insurance, legal liability, complex contracts, and having to deal with the customers own strict security regulations. With this particular client, it was critical that the solutions met all of the strict technical and non-technical requirements mentioned above.

Most multinational enterprises are required to meet strict compliance requirements. They’re subject to strict government-mandated data sovereignty and export regulations in each country they do business, making the implementation of a backup solution a tricky proposition. When multinational enterprises partner with Opti9, all of the strict, mandatory requirements for backups will be met.

Many of Opti9’s customers are multinational enterprises, including a security contractor with offices in nearly a dozen countries. The contractor is required to back up and store data in the country or region where data originates while maintaining compliance with SOX, ITAR, SJAs and GDPR. Not only that, but the organization faced a new challenge, which was a requirement to keep a 2nd copy of their entire data library without doubling the storage costs. If the contractor doesn’t comply with regulations that safeguard sensitive and confidential information, the consequences could be dire and deadly.

First and foremost, international safety and security could be in jeopardy. Second, penalties could be imposed. The average cost for multinational organizations experiencing non-compliance problems is $14.82 million, according to research compiled by the Ponemon Institute.

Opti9 had been using Veeam Availability Suite to back up over 30 PB of data across more than 10,000 servers to meet data protection needs for all customers when a new challenge arose for the security contractor. Each facility needed a second archived backup copy. It had to be on a different medium and retained for varying time periods, depending on data sovereignty. And, the second backup process had to be automated and affordable.

“We had two choices to meet the contractor’s requirement,” said Sagi Brody, Chief Technology Officer at Opti9. “We could build a second data center in each region and manage replication using third-party tools, but that would have been expensive and time-consuming. Or, we could leverage Veeam Cloud Data Management to quickly satisfy the contactor’s requirements. It was a very easy decision.”

The Veeam solution

Opti9 leverages Veeam Cloud Data Management to store a second archived backup in Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive, saving the security contractor and other Opti9 customers millions of dollars in backup storage costs each year while maintaining data sovereignty and security compliance with global regulations such as SOX, ITAR, SJAs and GDPR. Veeam also helps Opti9 protect customers from ransomware.

“Veeam provides automation that allows us to store customer archival data on 2 distinct and diverse platforms, providing the highest levels of assurance for compliance and data protection,” Brody said. “Each customer’s backup is stored on Opti9’s resilience storage platform, and their second copy is stored on ejected and encrypted virtual tapes. It’s like putting one copy on the moon and one on Mars. This is another great example of Veeam-sanctioned integration.”

Veeam integrates with the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Virtual Tape Library (VTL) gateway, enabling Opti9 to send the second archived backup to Amazon S3 Glacier and/or to Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive.

“The Veeam + AWS solution gives us the ability to bypass Amazon S3 Glacier and send archived backups directly to Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive, which is the most affordable long-term storage at the moment. This solution is saving our customers millions of dollars,” Brody said. “Veeam also provides complete visibility into the process. Veeam schedules, monitors, and reports on archived backups, so if customers are audited, they have all the information they need to prove compliance.”

Once the archived backup is in Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive, the virtual tapes are ejected, which prevents cybercriminals from accessing and ransoming them. Opti9 can remount the tapes and recover from them, but that requires a second encryption password, providing yet another security layer.

“Our job is to build business resiliency through data protection for our customers, including the security contractor that’s working to make the world a safer place,” Brody said. “Veeam helps us build business resiliency by meeting every technical backup and recovery requirement our customers have. We couldn’t do it without Veeam.”

The results

• Saves millions of dollars each year in archived backup storage costs
  Opti9 leverages Veeam Cloud Data Management to meet customers’ specific data protection needs, including long-term backup copies in Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive, saving customers millions of dollars each year in storage costs.
• Supports data security and compliance with SOX, ITAR, SJAs and GDPR
  Many of Opti9’s multinational customers are subject to strict government-mandated data sovereignty and export regulations in each country they do business. Veeam monitoring and reporting helps them maintain compliance and prove compliance if they’re audited.
• Helps protect against ransomware through a second encryption password
  “Building business resiliency for our customers is what we do best,” Brody said. “Veeam helps us protect them against ransomware, letting us quickly move from ‘recover the business’ to ‘resume the business.’”