Minnesota Counties Information Systems Opts for Unitrends

Unitrends announced that Minnesota Counties Information Systems (MCIS) has achieved reliable, high-performance data protection for its mixed Microsoft and IBM iSeries operating environment using a disk-based appliance from Unitrends.

Minnesota Counties Information Systems (MCIS) is a joint-powers organization dedicated to providing quality, integrated information solutions through customized computer applications and responsive support to member counties. Established in 1975, MCIS provides services to thirteen full member counties and seven associate member counties. With offices in Grand Rapids, Minn., MCIS relies on a nimble staff of 12 to provide the software and technical support for its counties’ computerized work processes, e-government services and Web-based communications.

Just like most local governments, MCIS must conserve taxpayer dollars while delivering an increasingly high level of service. Given this mission, MCIS needed to improve its data protection reliability by shifting from its previous tape backup solution, which was becoming increasingly less reliable.

For disaster recovery purposes, MCIS also needed its replacement system to include a way to maintain offsite copies of backups while also providing highly automated local backups with ease of recovery in case of disaster. Additionally, it had to be easy to use with high-quality support so that MCIS could implement and manage the solution with existing staff. Finally, the solution had to support the organization’s mix of operating environments which included Microsoft Windows, Microsoft SQL databases, Microsoft Exchange Server and IBM iSeries systems.

MCIS looked at the backup services offered by a local managed services provider, but in the end decided they would prefer to purchase a disk-to-disk solution that could be administered by MCIS staff. Based on a recommendation from its solution partner, CPS, MCIS selected a disk-to-disk backup solution from Unitrends.

“I like Unitrends’ emphasis on products for small to medium businesses, and also their relationship with our partner CPS,” Patricia Lenoch, network administrator for MCIS. “I have been able to restore files many times without having to worry about having the correct media. Unitrends also offers great support, always excellent, timely, and thorough."

Now, MCIS’ data archives are copied automatically on rotational (archive) drives as part of the Unitrends system. These removable drives with copies of backups are transferred to a secure offsite location, while the original backups remain on the local Unitrends appliance. This is a big improvement over tape, where the media could be transferred to a remote site, but then those backups were no longer readily available for quick recovery of files or systems at the local site.

“Unitrends appliances are an ideal solution for environments that require data protection for a mix of operating environments without added cost or burden on IT staff productivity,” said Dr. Mark Campbell, COO, Unitrends. “Unitrends also provides an efficient method for delivering both the back up and archiving protection organizations like MCIS need all from a single, unified solution.”

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