Mercury Print Productions

Worry-Free Data Protection for Remote Servers

Providing IT support for remote servers can be difficult for a growing business. As Mercury Print Productions has discovered, LiveVault® Online Backup and Recovery Service provides a hassle-free solution for server backup, data recovery and protection.

Ranked as one of the fastest growing commercial printers in the U.S., Mercury Print Productions provides a wide variety of printing and related services to many corporate clients. While originally all operations were under one roof, the company has opened a second facility in addition to its headquarters plant in Rochester, New York. This facility houses the company’s distribution center, responsible for processing and fulfilling customer orders for printed stock. A division for mastering and packaging CD-ROMs is also based here.

Mercury was facing a dilemma confronting many growing companies—how to manage protection for an isolated server beyond the normal reach of IT staff. All daily records and transactions associated with the distribution center and CD-ROM operations were being written to a file server located at the remote site. This is business-critical information that the company cannot afford to put at risk.

Mercury Print Productions is using LiveVault Online Backup, Recovery and Electronic Vaulting Service to safeguard its remote data with automated real-time server backup and data recovery of all files and transactions.

LiveVault Service continuously backs up all data as it is created or changed—even open database applications. The service is completely transparent to users, and there are no server backup tasks to worry about and lose time over.

"This is a weight off my shoulders," says Todd Knipe, Information Systems Analyst. "We’re protecting our server data without anyone losing time doing maintenance work or disrupting their daily routine in any way. The people in our distribution center specialize in processing customer orders. They’re not trained in handling tapes or performing server backup tasks—and they certainly don’t need the distraction."

Savings Can Be Huge
"LiveVault Online Backup Service saves thousands of dollars per month compared to doing it yourself," Knipe adds. "If you have a server backup system onsite, the costs add up quickly. In addition to the system itself, you have to factor in the cost of tapes, as well as extended warranty costs for hardware—which can be hundreds of dollars per month. Then add the costs of personnel to administer the box and tapes. The monthly fee for the server backup service is only a small fraction of these equipment and administration costs."

The remote file server stores essential daily documentation used by distribution center staff such as production schedules and shipping instructions. Order processing and standard office applications integrate with an Oracle database that keeps track of job specifications, invoices, and other records associated with customer orders. LiveVault Online Backup Service protects it all.

Maintaining Control with MyLiveVault™
LiveVault Service allows Knipe to initiate server restores and check status through his personalized MyLiveLault™ web page. This intuitive management interface allows easy management from work or home. "You can perform restores over your Internet connection, create your policies, and monitor any kind of transaction," Knipe adds. "The service gives you intelligence about activities as they occur, just as if you were running server backups and restores locally."

Uncompromising Protection at an Offsite Location
Backup data flows into a secure data center designed to deliver the highest security and fault tolerance. Data is protected against any conceivable threat.

Using state-of-the-art tunneling technology, LiveVault established a secure link between Mercury’s remote server and the data center using Mercury’s existing network connections. Backup data travels across a wireless Ethernet connection from the remote facility to Mercury headquarters, then flows over the company’s T1 connection provided for Internet access. While the wireless connection is a relatively low 7-8 Mbits per second, Knipe reports that there are no bottlenecks or delays resulting from the backup traffic. Knipe is also confident in the security of the data transfer because LiveVault utilizes state-of-the-art encryption as well as the same technology used by major financial institutions for online transactions.

Server Backup Approach to Match Business Needs
Before deploying LiveVault’s unique online backup service, Mercury was already using LiveVault technology as part of an innovative archiving system for rapid access to the massive files associated with print jobs. This solution, which is also the first to archive all revisions of print artwork, now serves as a model for the printing industry. When LiveVault announced that its online server backup technology was available as a service, Knipe knew it was exactly what he needed to protect business data at the company’s remote site.

"It’s an ideal, complete solution for us. The server backup service protects business documents and transactions, while maximizing our T1 investment. The onsite system fits our specific needs as a commercial printer, providing dramatic time savings during pre-press operations and allowing us to go to press faster."

Keeping Remote Data Safe
"Data protection is often seen as a necessary evil under the best circumstances, and remote servers are notoriously vulnerable," Knipe says. "Now I don’t worry about finding support for local backups. The service works great and the low monthly fee is extremely cost effective."