June 1, 2009
EZ-Backup, the data backup service the university trusts for all its data, now makes additional copies of data backups at a secure off-campus location in New York City at no further cost to departments.
In March 2009, Ithaca EZ-Backup data began being backed up to a secure Weill Cornell Medical College facility. If a disaster in Ithaca should disable campus infrastructure, Cornell data backed up through the service will remain secure.
Backing up EZ-Backup realizes the most urgent recommendation of the Disaster Recovery Planning Task Force, convened in 2006 in response to questions from the Board of Trustees about safeguarding Cornell data. The university-funded project makes use of the high-speed network connection between the Ithaca and New York City campuses and Cornell-owned machinery at Weill. The solution is more efficient than what would have been possible with an outside vendor -- and with no price hike.
Teams in Ithaca and New York collaborated to copy over 300 terabytes (TB) of compressed legacy data to Weill and set up a new tape library there. More than 5 TB of Ithaca campus data moves through EZ-Backup each day, with most of the work to manage it based in Ithaca.
Having departmental data copied to a secure offsite location is more than just a new benefit of using EZ-Backup. Customers can be assured of meeting the standards of data protection fit for an institution of Cornell's stature. Following the 30-percent rate drop for EZ-Backup services introduced last fall, together with ongoing university funding targeted for this project, they can meet those standards cost effectively.
For more information, email ezbackup@cornell.edu.
