Duet Group, the London-based global alternative asset management firm, has selected Managed Service Provider (MSP) DataFort to protect its entire server infrastructure with Hi-5, a suite of business continuity and disaster recovery services. The Hi-5 service ensures compliance with FSA data storage guidelines, whilst replacing the indefinite recovery timeframes provided by tape backup with guaranteed SLAs for recovery of data, server failure or loss of access to their business premises.
Duet Group is a global alternative asset manager, founded in 2002. The group manages over US$2.7 billion of assets over three business areas: Hedge Funds, Private Equity and Funds of Hedge Funds.
Replacing the old-fashioned and time-consuming process of tape backup, the Hi-5, High Availability service will allow Duet Group to exceed FSA customer service and data security guidelines and requirements. As an asset management firm, Duet will from time to time hold sensitive data, such as personal and investor information, market holdings and risk details which the company has a duty to hold securely for at least five years in premises located at least 7 miles away from their primary business location. As an FSA-regulated organisation, failure to comply with these regulations could result in significant financial penalties.
The High Availability service from DataFort has replaced the tape backup process which may potentially prove less satisfactory from a recovery perspective due to the fact that recovery of data could take in excess of 5-10 hours. Also, since tape backup often occurs only once each day, it may leave as much as 24 hours’ worth of data exposed to permanent loss. Such risks are unacceptable in an industry where the ability to trade instantly when market conditions demand it can mean the difference between making or losing significant amounts of money for Duet Group and its clients. In contrast, DataFort’s Hi-5 backup images are kept in tight synchronization with all the protected machines, meaning that the potential to lose data is absolutely minimized. In the event of server failure, Duet Group will continue trading from a virtual server running inside a local backup appliance, with a maximum downtime of under 2 hours.
Tue Sando, General Counsel at Duet Group, comments, “Duet takes the protection of our clients’ data extremely seriously. DataFort’s Hi 5 service has allowed Duet to strengthen its Business Recovery Program and ensure that it not only complies with the FSA’s data storage guidelines but also gives our clients the best and the quickest data recovery service which an antiquated tape technology would not be able to provide.”
Duet has contracted for DataFort’s Hi-5 High Availability Service – a near replication speed onsite/offsite server imaging and data archival service – to protect its business critical servers.
Sando continues, “Mismanagement of sensitive data is a serious risk in our business. With this in mind, we required a system which would ensure beyond doubt that our data could not be lost and could also be recovered safely and quickly. The Hi-5 solution from DataFort does just that – within 120 minutes we can be trading again with data made available from the backup appliance. In contrast, the tape solution could take in excess of a day to retrieve data, and with no guarantee of a complete replication. In an industry such as ours, this was absolutely unacceptable.”
Sando concludes, “The choice to use DataFort above their competitors was simple. We wanted a provider who was large enough to survive the economic downturn, but not too big for us to be overlooked, as well as providing solid disaster recovery technology. DataFort gives us a comprehensive service with an exemplary working relationship. The system is reliable and has given us the security which we required to remain compliant as well as to continue to manage clients’ funds effectively with little or no disruption through a server failure.”
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