As organizations face increasing challenges to deliver 24/7 availability of business information, they must design server and storage systems that are truly continuous and that guard against unplanned downtime. A study by fielded by Aberdeen Group, a Harte-hanks company, and co-sponsored by Lakeview Technology and IBM (NYSE:IBM), found that the business drivers behind most companies' high availability strategies are focused on reducing unplanned downtime, reducing financial risk of data loss and the need for applications to be up and running 24/7. As of this posting, free report for download from Aberdeen website.

According to the study, "The Importance of High Availability: Continuous Applications and Data Recovery", organizations understand the importance of high availability in ensuring that their applications and data are available continuously. “Continuous data protection becomes a natural fit for high availability since it’s technology that enables real-time data recovery and gives end users rapid access to any copy of data they need,” said Sonia Lelii, senior storage analyst, Aberdeen Group.

When integrated with a high availability solution, the efficiencies and flexibility of CDP translate into superior data protection and recovery, as well as cost savings realized through the elimination of both planned downtime for backups and lengthy, error-prone tape recovery processes. The study showed that 80 percent of end users cited the need to reduce unplanned downtime as the top business driver behind their high availability strategy, while 75 percent named the need to reduce the financial risk of data loss. Sixty-five percent named the need for applications to be up and running 24/7.

Lakeview is the only one delivering CDP innovation for the IBM “all-in-one” System i business computing platform.

"Business uptime is being recognized as the key to continued success, productivity and profitability for companies today," said Mark Shearer, general manager IBM System i. "Analysts agree that technologies such as an integrated CDP solution will help companies meet the challenges brought on by security threats, growing storage needs and overall need for business continuity. Lakeview makes CDP available to our System i clients, helping ensure that their businesses are well prepared in the event of unplanned downtime."

CDP provides real-time data recovery by continuously safeguarding information from data loss caused by computer viruses, malicious data corruption, hacker attacks or accidental deletions. Because businesses thrive on information, the availability of that information plays a key role in long-term business resilience.

"Companies today are incorporating high availability strategies into their business continuity planning," said Bill Merchantz, CEO and founder, Lakeview Technology. "Aberdeen’s study underscores the importance businesses -- especially SMBs -- are placing on keeping critical data protected, available and instantly recoverable. More than 33 percent of study participants increased their high availability budgets because they need to improve real-time recovery of data. We’ve been closely aligned with IBM in delivering a cross platform solution that’s affordable, easy-to-use and extremely innovative."

"Lakeview’s ongoing succession of technological breakthroughs offers incredible ease-of-use and affordability to customers operating on System i," said Julie Cantrell, HA software practice manager, Mainline Information Systems. "We rely on Lakeview’s solutions to deliver the reliable IBM proven solutions that enable business continuity for our customers. Lakeview solutions ensure the availability of business information so customers can increase productivity, reduce costs, and meet compliance requirements."

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