LiveVault InSync provides continuous protection for customers' critical server environments by electronically vaulting data to a secure data center and providing a completely managed, pro-actively monitored service. When customers subscribe to LiveVault InSync, an account is generated for their company. When the customer first logs in, they should add the servers to the system that they would like to protect. Then, they simply install the software agent. After the customer downloads and installs the agent on each server (a re-boot is required), the customer then configures the backup policies for each server through the InSync web interface. This is simply a matter of deciding which data to protect. We strongly encourage customers to protect their whole server, then take away things that they know they don't need to protect. Once the backup is configured, LiveVault performs an initial synchronization (very much like a full backup). Once this is done, LiveVault performs periodic snapshots based on the customer's scheduling requirements (typically on 15 minute intervals). This allows customers to recover data from just minutes before a failure, instead of having to rely on last night's backup. During this process and ongoing, the LiveVault support team is monitoring and managing the entire process for you. At any time, you can go to the web interface or call us to initiate a restore or make any modifications necessary.      If you purchased the optional LiveVault TurboRestore appliance, an appliance will be provided for you on-site. Once connected to your network, this provides a local backup location for your data, in addition to your off-site vaulting location. Because the data is stored locally, you can now have extremely fast restores while still having a comprehensive off-site solution. You have a variety of configuration options to ensure optimal efficiency for your environment.

LiveVault InSync is based on LiveVault's own backup technology. This proprietary technology allows LiveVault provide the best available service in the online backup market. Unique to LiveVault's software is the ability to protect data continuously, as well as the ability for LiveVault's expert management team to provide exceptional 24x7 pro-active support. LiveVault's technology also runs the “back-end” of the service, providing historic versioning of data, as well as redundancy in key areas. The only software a customer needs to install is the LiveVault agent software that resides on each protected server. LiveVault also designed the TurboRestore appliance technology.

Customers can select anything between a single file and a full system to restore. The customer can choose how to deliver the data, including from a local TurboRestore appliance (if applicable), over the secure Internet connection or restoring data via media device, such as a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device. Most restores are quickly performed from the local appliance or over the Internet. LiveVault offers unique technology for restore (delta restore) that only restores the pieces of files that have changed. This significantly reduces the time required for restoring from corruption in larger files and databases. In the case of a site disaster, LiveVault provides you with a number of restore choices. Typically, customers elect to perform restores from NAS devices that are shipped to the customers' recovery site.

For customers using the TurboRestore appliance, the initial synch to the appliance is extremely fast (as it is locally attached), then the appliance synchronizes efficiently with the vault. Because of the wide variety of tape formats and backup software, LiveVault does not do this from backup tapes. Most customers find that when they actually deploy LiveVault, the initial synchronization process is very quick, smooth and easy. It is also very easy to plan ahead to limit the impact of this on resources. Customers find that they can continue to run their traditional backup while this process is going on, limiting exposure. Many times, larger customers will schedule the initial synchronizations to run on nights and weekends, while most customers find that a single weekend is sufficient to get an initial synchronization done. Additionally, customers have the ability to control the amount of bandwidth that LiveVault uses on a scheduled basis, further reducing the impact of the initial synch process on a customer's network and servers.

The LiveVault InSync offering is only available as a service today. However, LiveVault also offers a product version called LiveVault InControl. Please contact your LiveVault sales representative for more details. The InControl product is typically best suited for larger enterprises with remote offices.

The set-up process is very quick and painless. Most customers find that they can have everything set-up and configured in just a couple hours. In fact, many customers are protecting their servers the day they sign up for the service. Generally there are only two areas of potential delay: 1.) A re-boot is involved in the install process, which often has to be scheduled for after-hours. 2.) Customers need to decide exactly which data they need to protect. The actual configuration of this takes only a few minutes. 3.) Customers who choose to use the TurboRestore appliance will need to wait for it to be shipped to their site to configure it for protection.

LiveVault is focused primarily on protecting servers. If you have specific requirements for protecting desktops, please contact your LiveVault sales rep to discuss the options available.

LiveVault supports Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows XP and Microsoft Small Business Server. LiveVault also supports Red Hat Linux and Sun Solaris (refer to our web-site for specific version support), however these platforms are only supported with nightly protection (i.e. not continuous). LiveVault does not support Novell, Windows 9x (Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME), Macintosh, mainframes or other varieties of UNIX. However, LiveVault can protect data created on these other platforms that is STORED LOCALLY on one of our supported platforms. LiveVault CANNOT protect data through mapped drives.

LiveVault does not require you to purchase or maintain any additional hardware at your facility. Additionally, the only software required to run the service is the LiveVault agent software, which is included in the cost of the service. The agent includes no third party separately licensed software. The optional TurboRestore appliance comes pre-configured with all software installed.

LiveVault is ideal for protecting data at remote offices. Most companies find that remote offices maintain highly critical data, yet often lack local full time IT staff, which exacerbates the challenges of doing successful backups there. Locally run tape-based backup systems involve a variety of moving parts from multiple vendors, as well as significant daily human intervention. As a consequence, reliability is often low. LiveVault InSync provides guaranteed protection of server data in these remote offices. Additionally, LiveVault provides a web-based user interface for centralized management functions. Customers who elect to use the TurboRestore appliance can also get the benefit of LAN (local) restores for their remote offices! LiveVault offers options for vaulting remote office data to either a centralized customer location or to a secure IBM data center

You can certainly continue to use your existing tape backup solution. Many of our customers initially continue to use their tape backup solution for a period of time until they become comfortable with LiveVault InSync. Most of our customers eventually stop dealing with the hassles of tape drives and backup software. Customers who are using replication software today can continue to do so while running LiveVault, although many customers find that LiveVault provides many of the same benefits.

LiveVault's pricing model is based on the concept that the cost for customers should be consistent, predictable and easy to understand. The basic service cost includes 24x7 support, unlimited local and Internet-based restores and all software involved. The only additional costs are a one-time set-up fee per server, a one-time fee for each optional TurboRestore appliance (if applicable) and a nominal charge for media restores if/when the customer chooses this option. The basic charges are based simply on the amount of data on each of the servers a customer wishes to protect. Change rate, compression ratios, number of historic copies and bandwidth usage do NOT play any role in the customer cost.

LiveVault has over 1,500 existing service customers today that range in size and type of business. LiveVault is very popular in financial services, insurance, professional services, government, legal, health care and manufacturing. Our smallest customers have a single server and our largest customers have 100's of servers. On our web-site (www.livevault.com), we have an excellent range of published customer stories in different industries. We have also received a number of awards and favorable reviews. In two of our most recent customer surveys, 100% of our customers who responded (>50% of polled customers) would recommend our service to a peer!

LiveVault has over 1,500 customers today, ranging from small businesses to large corporate and government clients.

Most customers who use LiveVault InSync find that they stop doing traditional tape backup and/or data replication as a result. There are a variety of costs that this eliminates, such as tape drive depreciation and maintenance, backup software and maintenance, daily labor from changing tapes and reading logs, labor spent doing restores, diagnosing problems and resolving issues and the opportunity costs that these labor costs really represent (i.e. if an IT person is dealing with a backup issue, what other issues aren't they addressing?). Additionally, customers are typically eliminating the costs of moving and storing tapes off-site, testing recovery procedures and of course purchasing the tapes. The real value of LiveVault is not just in reducing costs, it is in providing 100% guaranteed success in restoring data while freeing up IT resources to do more business critical tasks.

In order to calculate the cost of LiveVault InSync, customers need to determine the amount of data that they would like to have protected on each server. LiveVault strongly recommends that customers protect everything, except the things that they know they don't need. This will ensure that the customer has everything that they need in order to restore the entire system if necessary. Once the amount of data is calculated for each server, LiveVault offers a choice of pricing plans that offer predictable, consistent pricing for our customers. There are 2 additional choices for customers to make that effect pricing: whether they'd like the TurboRestore appliance and what levels of data retention they'd like (configurable down to specific files and directories).

LiveVault has been in business, focusing on server data protection since 1993. LiveVault introduced the on-line backup and recovery service in late 1999. LiveVault is a privately held, industry and venture-backed company, with top tier investors including Matrix Partners, Atlas Venture, Iron Mountain and Sevin Rosen. LiveVault has experienced significant growth in the past 3 years, averaging over 25% growth quarter over quarter for the last 15 quarters.

Every contract that LiveVault customers sign includes a 30-day risk-free trial period. If a customer is unhappy with the service in any way during the first 30 days of service, they are able to cancel the service with no fees whatsoever. Most customers find within the first week of their trial period they see the value of the service and understand how it will help them better serve their backup and DR needs. LiveVault does not generally offer free “open-ended” pilots or trials. We believe that our service is well established and our large, exceedingly satisfied customer base and our 30-day no risk period in every contract addresses the needs of most prospects looking for trials.

We recommend restricting access to LiveVault InSync to IT staff and managers (or regional office managers). Being able to restore data is a very powerful tool, and as such should be respected.

LiveVault provides the best available security for all aspects of the LiveVault InSync service. There are 5 areas of concern that need to be addressed to understand the “security model” that LiveVault utilizes.

1. Physical Security and Access
   1. All data is stored in a secure, Class “A” off-site IBM data center. The data center uses black box security, meaning that physical servers are never physically identified by content or function. The facility uses all best of breed methodologies in preserving physical and environmental security.
   2. Neither LiveVault nor any of its partners has any access whatsoever to customer data. All data is maintained in an encrypted format and only the customer has control over the key to that encryption.
2. Electronic authentication (prevents spoofing)
   1. LiveVault uses SSL security for all communications. LiveVault uses digital certificates exclusively for authentication of servers. This ensures that someone outside cannot “spoof” either end of the connection. We do not rely on IP address, server name, MAC address or any other “spoof-able” identifier.
   2. The web interface employs SSL security to ensure that access to this interface is secure. Additionally, the web interface offers no direct access to customer data, only to the ability to restore the data back to authorized locations. This ensures that customer data is never compromised in the case of a user password breach.
3. Eavesdropping (someone intercepting data traffic or data at rest in a vault)
   1. LiveVault uses 256-bit AES encryption on all data. Data is never decrypted once it leaves the customer's server. Only the customer has the ability to decrypt it.
4. Tampering with data in transit
   1. LiveVault uses digital signatures on all packets to ensure that we reject any modifications in transit. Any modified packets are immediately discarded and re-sent.
5. Securing the customer's network
   1. LiveVault uses two out-bound initiated ports for all communications with the customer's servers. LiveVault dynamically finds an available port of communication and only connects from the client side. This allows LiveVault to securely pass through customers' existing firewalls and routers.

In addition to these 5 areas, LiveVault also provides a fully managed service operations center where we continuously monitor all security aspects of our service and operating environments.

All customer data is vaulted to a secure IBM vaulting facility. The facility is a top-tier, state-of-the-art facility with complete redundancy, fault tolerance and security controls in place. This includes redundant power supplies, bandwidth and HVAC.

All data is stored encrypted - neither LiveVault nor any of its partners have the key to decrypt the data - the customer has the only key. The data inside the data center is protected in a variety of ways, including

1. Black box security (no identifying labels are on any servers corresponding to specific functions or customers)
2. Highly secure, bio-metric accessed facility

Yes. A customer can change the password that that is used to access encrypted data. By doing this, all data will now be available with the new password (and NOT available with the old password). Additionally, the customer will not need to re-send their data. It is important, of course, to take proper precautions to ensure that terminated employees have their accounts terminated immediately and that passwords are changed after any security breach.

When a customer adds a server to the service, they are asked to create an encryption password. At this time, a unique 256-bit encryption key is generated by the agent software (random generation). This key is then encrypted using the encryption password. This newly encrypted key is then sent to LiveVault in escrow. The result is that LiveVault has no direct access to the key itself, only to an encrypted version of the key (encrypted by the users password), however the combination of the encrypted key (stored both on the customer's local machine and at LiveVault) and the server's encryption password allow a user to be able to decrypt the encryption key for use in a recovery situation (i.e. if the customer's original server is no longer available).

LiveVault relies exclusively on Verisign digital certificates for authentication. Server name/MAC address/IP addresses are never used for authentication. This eliminates the possibility of spoofing. Also, the server name can be changed and is never a part of the actual communication authentication.

Absolutely. Only the customer has access to the key to the encryption.

LiveVault offers unique technology that dynamically adjusts to your current router and firewall set-up. We automatically and dynamically find available OUT-BOUND ports and establish bi-directional secure tunnels through the ports. The LiveVault Web Management Portal interface never attempts to connect directly to the customer's server. Instead, it connects to web servers at the secure data center that then communicate with the appropriate vault which is securely connected to the customer's server(s). Under no circumstances does LiveVault require an inbound port to be opened nor does LiveVault attempt to initiate a connection from our side.

LiveVault is designed to be simple and intuitive to use. The “learning curve” for 90% of the LiveVault functionality is usually about 1 hour! And, because we offer a fully managed service, customers will not have to worry about on-going support and maintenance. However, LiveVault does offer extraordinary on-line help that is both context-specific (i.e. help for the task at hand) and searchable. The help system actually combines a traditional help system with a thorough knowledge base.

LiveVault offers a fully managed service, where LiveVault or an authorized LiveVault Partner provides 24x7 pro-active management and support. Although customers have complete control of all functions through the LiveVault Web Management Portal interface, they are off-loaded from the burden of daily maintenance. In fact 85% of LiveVault's support calls are out-bound to customers.

Yes, the web interface has extensive logging that details the success of all jobs.

Manuals are not required to support the LiveVault InSync because InSync is delivered as a fully managed service. Additionally, excellent help is available on-line.

As part of the standard LiveVault agreement, customers are offered 24x7 emergency support. This is included in the cost of the service. However, the LiveVault InSync is a fully managed service and most of our customers find that we contact them before they even know about an issue. In an emergency, LiveVault will work customers to ensure a 100% successful recovery process. LiveVault is really a recovery company. And, when customers really need us, we shine brightest. This level of service is completely covered in the basic service fees.

LiveVault makes very efficient use of a customer's bandwidth. Using snapshots, LiveVault very efficiently scans a customer's server for just the blocks of files that have changed and then packages and sends those blocks. LiveVault is able to use significantly less bandwidth than other methods of moving data. However, there are certain requirements for bandwidth in order for customers to have successful implementations. We recommend that a customer have 20 kb/s of upstream bandwidth for each GB of data being protected. For example, a customer with a (1.54 Mb/s) T-1 connection can protect roughly 80 GBs of data with our service without experiencing significant impact to other applications sharing that Internet bandwidth. LiveVault will generally use much less than this guideline. This guideline is designed to provide reasonable room for data growth, as well as to accommodate the ups and downs of daily server activity. In addition to being very efficient, LiveVault also offers the ability to “throttle” the bandwidth so that customers can decide the maximum bandwidth LiveVault can use at any given point in time on a per server basis. This allows customers to “smooth out” the peaks and valleys of activity that is typical in most server environments. The throttle can be scheduled according to the specific customer requirements.      For customers who utilize the TurboRestore appliance, they are able to schedule the backup to the appliance separately from the backup to the vault. Data goes to the appliance first, then from there is sent to the off-site vault, based on customer-defined schedules. Customers can set-up policies to control the timing and limits on data movement. LiveVault recommends sending the data off-site at least once a day.

LiveVault is extremely efficient in terms of server overhead. The rule of thumb is: “If your server is properly configured for what it is doing now, then LiveVault will not cause any measurable degradation in performance.” LiveVault generally drives less than 5% use in any key server resource (memory, CPU cycles, disk usage). Customers need to have about 10% free disk space on their server for LiveVault caching.

No. Customers use the Internet to transport their data to a secure data center. Most customers find that because LiveVault is mostly using up-stream bandwidth (combined with efficiencies and throttling) that LiveVault does not have much measurable impact on their bandwidth performance. If customers have multiple paths to the Internet from a given site, we can work with them to determine the best way to route our traffic.

Resiliency is a very core component of LiveVault's technology. LiveVault is designed to automatically recovery from all Internet outages without any human intervention. This is true for backup and restore traffic. In both cases, LiveVault is able to essentially “pick up where we left off”, even in the middle of files being moved.

Yes. LiveVault allows customers to “throttle” their bandwidth usage on a per server basis and to schedule the usage of bandwidth to the customer's needs. This allows customers to ensure that LiveVault never exceeds a certain threshold of bandwidth usage at a given time of day. In most cases, this throttle serves as a mechanism for leveling out the peaks and valleys of typical server activity.

LiveVault's guarantee is made up of two components: past performance and remedy for failure to perform. LiveVault is extremely proud of our success record in recovering customer data. No other company in the storage business can come close to matching our success record. With that in mind, we offer a remedy to provide further assurance to customers that their data will be protected. In the event that LiveVault fails to meet the requirements set forth in our Service Level Agreement, customers are entitled to a refund of the fees paid for that specific service for that period of time.

One unique benefit of LiveVault is the option to protect data continuously, throughout the day, not just at night, like most backup software. Once a customer subscribes to the LiveVault InSync, they perform what we call an initial synchronization of their servers (like a full backup). This is only done once. After this, LiveVault is only sending the actual changed blocks of files. We use snapshot technology to ensure that we always get access to the files at a consistent point in time. We also take advantage of Microsoft file system filter drivers that track the changes to files. This allows us to only need to scan the specific blocks of files that have actually changed - significantly reducing the time needed to do this. We then package them up (compress, encrypt) and securely transmit them to the secure IBM vaulting facility. We are doing this on a periodic basis (typically every 15 minutes). It is very important to note that there is generally a “latency” of a few minutes between when changes happen and when LiveVault has successfully received those changes. It is important to note that customers also have multiple historic versions of files available for restore in addition to the most current versions. See the “What versions of data can I restore?” section to learn more about the historic versions available for restore.

LiveVault offers different data retention levels for customers. Our standard offering is 30-day retention, where we will provide multiple copies per day for the past 2 consecutive days, 6-hour versions for 2 weeks and weekly copies for the remainder of 30 days. This means that a customer who wanted to restore an older version of a file would be able to easily go into our web UI and select a time from which to restore. LiveVault also offers 1 year and 7-year retention levels. Each of the longer-term retentions is additive (i.e. it has everything the level before it has plus additional versions). The 1 year retention service adds month-end copies to the 30 day daily versions going back 12 months, again on a rolling basis. So, a customer would be able to restore the end of month copy of a file or database for any of the previous 11 month ends. The 7-year retention adds to the 1 year offering quarter-end versions going back 24 consecutive quarters on a rolling basis.      Customers using the TurboRestore Appliance will have additional granularity available based on their configuration. The appliance will maintain as many backups of data as will fit based on its storage. Typically, this will include 15-minute versions of files for many days.

LiveVault offers different delivery mechanisms for restoring customer data. Most customer restore requests are performed via the secure Internet connection. With “Delta Restore”, LiveVault just restores the pieces of files that are different - significantly reducing the time to recover from corruption events. When restoring whole files (i.e. when not restoring an older version of an existing file), a customer can expect to restore a GB of data every 90 minutes for each mb/s of bandwidth they have (i.e. a customer with 3 GB can expect to restore about 3 GB in 270 minutes). Many variables play roles in determining the actual length of restoring a given amount of data. LiveVault offers media restores (NAS) for customers who need to restore a large amount of data and/or are in a real or test recovery process. LiveVault describes more details in our SLA.      For customers using the TurboRestore appliance, restore times are significantly reduced in most cases. Combining the appliance with Delta Restore, customers are able to get disk-to-disk speed restores over their LAN while only moving the absolute minimal amount of data! In almost any circumstance, this will be MUCH faster than restoring from tape - especially if the tape needs to be brought back from off-site.

a. There is a significant amount of redundancy and fault tolerance built into LiveVault InSync at every level. For instance, the entire service operations center is virtual (totally web-based) and a secondary facility is available if the primary becomes unavailable. What we offer all customers is a significantly higher level of protection and reliability than they are able to achieve themselves. Most companies today take a single set of tapes to a single local off-site facility. LiveVault offers customers the ability to get their data off-site to a (generally) geographically isolated secure data center. In this data center, all customer data resides, in all cases, on at least two autonomous vault servers. Because of these layers of protection, there would have to be simultaneous site-level disasters at both the secure IBM data center and the customer's facility in order for customers to potentially lose data.      For customers using the TurboRestore appliance, the data is also protected on their own network, providing yet another layer of protection.

This is actually a fairly common question about LiveVault. Many companies have had bad experiences in the past with failed restores from “successful backups”. As a fully managed service, LiveVault takes on the responsibility of day-to-day monitoring, maintenance and management of the end-to-end process. LiveVault also offers its customers the LiveVault Web Management Portal web interface allows customers to, at any time, from any web browser, view all aspects of the LiveVault InSync, including reporting on all jobs.

LiveVault InSync does not currently support clusters.

There is tremendous redundancy and fault tolerance in all aspects of LiveVault InSync.

1. All customer data exists on at least two autonomous vaults, in addition to an appliance (for customers using the TurboRestore appliance)
2. There are redundant bandwidth carriers to the secure vaulting facility.
3. The Service Operations Center is entirely virtual (web-based). It can be run securely from anywhere on the web and we maintain a secondary command and control center.
4. The web and SQL components of the service are all run on clustered and fault tolerant hardware. Many of these systems feature complete redundancy.
5. All LiveVault systems use hardware with redundant and fault tolerant systems (like RAID, redundant power supplies, etc).
6. The secure IBM data center has redundant power sources and HVAC systems.

Absolutely not. Customer data only resides (encrypted) on LiveVault Vaults. On these vaults, no files are ever or could ever be opened and no files are ever executed. As a result, no viruses can ever be spread on a vault from either outside sources or from other customer's data. Because of this, the vaults do not run anti-virus software (this would entail reading and modifying customer files, which we don't do). However, the systems that support the vaults do run anti-virus software and other appropriate protection measures are in place.

The best rule of thumb for determining which data to protect is the following: “protect your entire system, then exclude the things you KNOW you don't need to be able to recover.” Customers have the choice of exactly which data they want to protect, from a single file to an entire system. LiveVault also offers advanced exclusion rules to exclude categories of files. In fact, we automatically exclude most common temporary and caching directories and files. It is important that customers understand that with LiveVault InSync, they can recover their entire functioning systems ONLY if they protect all the files and directories needed to recover. This is why we recommend erring on the side of caution when selecting which files to protect.

Yes (if you are protecting all the files necessary to rebuild the system). LiveVault allows customers to quickly and reliably recover entire systems after any type of failure event.

Absolutely. LiveVault natively protects open files and databases by taking advantage of snapshot technology. This technology allows LiveVault to get a “moment in time” view of a server's file system.

LiveVault's unique technology provides a higher level of protection for Exchange than most backup technologies, without relying on any third party plug-ins. LiveVault provides continuous protection for customers' Exchange servers. And, with delta restore, customers are able to VERY quickly recover from various types of corruption events without having to move whole, large files! Instead of being the most difficult application to backup, Exchange is the easiest and most reliable with LiveVault! See “Does LiveVault protect Exchange mailboxes?” for more details on more granular restores.      For customers using the TurboRestore appliance, restores of large files and databases (like Exchange) become extremely fast and convenient! In the event of system loss or system corruption, the appliance provides fast, local, disk-to-disk speed restores! Much fast and more reliable than tape! And, customers will have historic versions of their Exchange database from the same day - typically with 15-minute granularity!

LiveVault is able to natively protect SQL databases, as well as any database running on Windows servers using snapshots and block-level differencing. In fact, we are able to protect SQL continuously, significantly reducing the vulnerability of your business data throughout the day. Some LiveVault customers continue to do database dumps periodically, in addition to using our service. LiveVault's delta restore technology allows customers to recover from database corruption without having to restore the entire full files! This enables customers to quickly rollback their database to a point in time (before a corruption event)! Additionally, LiveVault offers customers many versions of files to restore from (typically at 15 minute intervals) and the ability to redirect restores to different locations (for reporting or testing purposes).      For customers using the optional TurboRestore appliance, the speed of restores for corruption, database loss or entire system recovery is significantly increased. In fact, this can be done at LAN speeds.

LiveVault works exceptionally well with Exchange's native object and mailbox recovery that allows customers to recover from most object losses. In the case that a recovery is not possible using this functionality, LiveVault allows customers to restore historic copies of their database and use Microsoft or 3rd party tools (such as Ontrack's Power Controls) to recover specific objects. This is a much more reliable approach than the “MAPI” or “Brick Level” backups that other backup software uses. Microsoft's utility Exmerge can also be used to perform “brick level” backups of the information stores if desired. In most cases, customers find that Exchange native tools negate the need to do this however. And, Microsoft, in more recent releases of Exchange (2000 and 2003) has addressed most of the reasons that a customer must elect to do brick level backup (such as Exmerge, object and mailbox retention and recovery storage groups in e2k3).      For customers using the TurboRestore appliance, the time required to restore a specific information store is significantly reduced. Additionally, LiveVault allows simple and secure ability to restore data directly to a different server. So, a customer could easily (through a web UI) and very quickly, restore an information store from a specific point in time to a network location. Once there, they could extract the specific information needed (using Microsoft or 3rd party tools).

The LiveVault media recovery option is well suited to larger data sets and emergency situations. The easiest way to understand how these works is to think of the NAS as a delivery mechanism, not a storage device. The customer makes most of the decisions about how they want the restore to work (i.e. overwrite options, re-direct choices, file and directory selection, etc) BEFORE the NAS is built. This way, LiveVault is able to “package” the data on the NAS in a secure format that is extremely easy to restore from when delivered. The NAS also includes software that allows customers to decrypt the data and handle the restore rules (like overwrites or re-directs).

LiveVault's primary competition continues to be traditional backup (inertia). LiveVault replaces the hassle, unreliability and complexity of traditional backup with a fully managed, continuous service that guarantees data protection and recovery. In addition to traditional backup, there are a number of on-line backup companies in the market today. Most focus on desktops and laptops, like Connected, Novastor, @backup and Assigra. Most of these have no ability to protect open files or databases. All the differences referenced in “How does LiveVault compare to EVault?” apply to most of these providers also. The only providers that we come across on a regular basis are EVault and its resellers (AmeriVault, DPS). See the aforementioned topic to see more about these.

LiveVault offers a number of significant differentiators from other on-line backup services, including EVault and its resellers (AmeriVault, DPS and others).

1. LiveVault is delivered as a fully managed end-to-end service with a real SLA, where EVault is a “hosted” solution that requires customers to take responsibility for the success of their backup and restore processes. Most LiveVault support calls are out-bound.
2. LiveVault provides nearly continuous protection (in addition to the ability to schedule) where EVault only provides nightly, scheduled backup
   1. This allows LiveVault to resolve issues in real-time when they occur, instead of having to wait until the backup window “comes around again” to try out potential problem resolutions.
   2. This significantly reduces the vulnerability of customer data throughout the day.
3. LiveVault provides a web-based user interface where EVault provides a win32 local console that requires a customer to be either at the same location as the servers or have a VPN to manage remote servers. The EVault management console cannot connect through firewalls, proxies or NAT devices. It must be on the LAN or a VLAN. LiveVault's web interface allows customers to monitor and manage all aspects of the LiveVault InSync 24x7 from anywhere on the web.
4. LiveVault uses snapshot technology to protect open files and databases, providing true “point in time” restore capability - generally on 15-minute intervals! EVault only provides nightly backup and relies on open file managers to protect open files. They also require special agents for different databases, which increases complexity and reduces reliability.
5. LiveVault provides an easy to understand, predictable and consistent pricing model where EVault's pricing is based on variables that are unpredictable. LiveVault charges based on the amount of data on a customer server being protected. Historic versions of these files are included in the base cost. EVault charges for the combined storage requirements on their vaults to store both original data and historic copies. This can be very confusing and the cost has a tendency to grow at a rate greater than the growth of the company or native data size on protected servers.
6. LiveVault offers 24x7 pro-active and re-active support in the standard service fees. EVault provides 24x7 RE-ACTIVE support to some customers and charges others extra for support calls after-hours. Most EVault resellers charge extra fees for after hours support.
7. LiveVault offers customers the ability to recover entire systems including all the system files, applications and data (everything to recover full server functionality) even to different hardware! EVault offers just data protection, with no stated ability to recover an entire system.
8. LiveVault offers delta-restore capability, which significantly reduces restore times in the case of file or database corruption.
9. LiveVault offers an on-site, fully integrated TurboRestore appliance that significantly increases restore performance and flexibility - all through a common interface. EVault offers a separate, expensive, non-integrated and VERY INTRUSIVE product for on-site recovery.
10. LiveVault offers comprehensive bandwidth control, where EVault offers none.

LiveVault is designed to take the place of (or complement in some cases) traditional backup. It doesn't provide fault tolerance or redundancy like RAID and clustering. It is also not a high availability solution like some forms of replication. We are an excellent complement to these technologies. In this case, LiveVault provides what backup has historically provided in these environments. We provide recovery from catastrophic failure, recovery from corruption events, recovery from deleted files and folders and the peace of mind that comes from having data continuously replicated off-site.      With the TurboRestore appliance, customers are able to quickly rebuild a server in the case of hardware failure - providing RTO times in the hours, not days -like traditional backup.

LiveVault is compatible with replication technologies (like DoubleTake). However, in many cases, customers find that using LiveVault (especially with the TurboRestore appliance) significantly reduces the need to do replication. Because LiveVault is able to quickly restore data from both corruption and loss events, customers find that they don't have to make the large investment in implementing and maintaining replication solutions.

LiveVault serves a variety of verticals, such as financial services, insurance, legal, health care, professional services and government. The common thread is that our customers understand both the value of their data and the vulnerability associated with traditional backup methodologies. We often find more success with companies whose average “professional” hourly rate is high (such as financial services and legal). Interestingly, customers in “higher rent” areas tend to be better fits for our service. Our customers range in size from 1 server and a dozen or less employees up to 100's of servers in large private and federal organizations. The sweet spots are organizations with 30-200 GB in a single location (3-20 servers) and organizations with remote offices that have servers.