IT CAN HAPPEN TO
anyone: the dreaded
blue screen signifying computer failure. But that doesn’t
have to put you in
a panic—if you have
a solid backup plan
in place.
CenterBeam, a
San Jose, Calif.-based provider of
managed IT services
and Iron Mountain partner, aims
to be that backup plan for mid-market companies. CenterBeam
provides comprehensive, flexible
backup and recovery services for
an organization’s servers, desktops and laptops. It handles help-desk services; desktop, server
and network management; hosted
exchange and other services;
hosted compliance solutions; and
project-based services.
BOTTOM LINE
A flexible, reliable
data protection
solution is a key part
of the managed IT
services provided by
Iron Mountain partner CenterBeam Inc.
Using Iron Mountain
Digital’s Connected®
for PC and LiveVault®
services, the company focuses on
disaster prevention,
not just recovery.
Back
As a broad-based, full-service managed service provider,
CenterBeam reduces the overall risk profile, level of
complexity and operating costs for its customers. It has
adopted a clear strategy of integrating the most effective
IT components into a complete package to best serve its
customers.
“We give our customers the ultimate flexibility to handle the dynamic environment in which they operate,” says
Karen Hayward, CenterBeam’s executive vice president and
chief marketing officer. “Look at the complexity of keeping
your infrastructure reliable and robust. What you need are
different experts at different times.”
For example, when a company is opening or expanding
an office, it needs a network engineer. When it’s deploying
a messaging infrastructure, it needs engineers and architects to design and implement those systems. It might
not need backup expertise right away, but it will within
six months. Once all those systems are place, though, few
if any of these experts need to remain on staff. “
CenterBeam brings variable expertise when you need it,” Hayward
says.
“Our company doesn’t build proprietary or one-off
solutions,” says Hayward. “We go out and integrate best-of-breed (IT solutions) to deliver a comprehensive set of
infrastructure services.”
CenterBeam targets the midmarket, which it defines
as companies having between 100 and 2,500 users. Such
companies need enterprise-grade IT management, disaster
recovery and backup services, but can’t always afford the
full range of protective services.
“Our fundamental value proposition to the midmarket
is that we can bring them enterprise-class infrastructure
services in an economical and scalable way,” says Hayward.
“That brings a level of service they would never be able to
provision on their own.”
Data Protection Required
Besides reducing the risk, cost and complexity of managing their IT infrastructure, CenterBeam’s customers want
long-term protection to ensure business continuity and
regulatory compliance. Continued access to systems and,
more importantly, the data that resides on those systems is
essential to keeping its customers in business. To address
those concerns, the company needed to be able to provide
optimized disaster recovery in a secure, safe and reliable
way—particularly as backup and recovery evolve from tape
and physical storage systems to digital and Web-based
services.
“CenterBeam is not in the disaster recovery business,”
Hayward says. “We’re in disaster prevention. We spend a lot
of time proactively managing desktops and servers so there
is no major failure. When and if that happens, though, our
entire focus is on a rapid return to productivity.”
