Ensuring high data availability and protection is paramount as organizations face continued concerns over the possibility of natural or man-made disasters. While enterprises have been making improvements in disaster recovery and business continuity plans, many businesses are still at risk. So it comes as no surprise that IT administrators consider “peace of mind” as one of the primary benefits of adding replication technology to their disaster recovery plans, according to findings of a user survey released today by CommVault (NASDAQ:CVLT).

The November 2007 survey, in which CommVault contacted 36 existing customers using its Continuous Data Replicator^TM (CDR) software, also suggests that there is more to replication than just mirroring for disaster recovery. Although replicating data can reduce recovery time and mitigate risk, using replication software can also be invaluable to IT organizations as they look to reduce overall operational and data management costs. According to the survey, IT administrators also cited cost savings in data management operations or remote site personnel as key benefits of using replication technology.

Furthermore, the convergence of affordable disk capacity, increased bandwidth and the availability of replication software can increase an organization’s operational efficiency and agility. In terms of time spent managing data operations, nearly half of respondents attributed their use of replication technology to helping save between two and six hours of operational time, while almost one-third cited saving six or more hours, on a weekly basis. While not all IT managers responded to this particular question, we believe the time savings realized through the use of CommVault’s CDR software to be a significant factor that drives IT administrators to select CommVault^® technology for use in their data-centers.

“For many companies, disaster recovery means trying to minimize downtime as they try to restore systems and get them back online. A better approach is to look at your disaster recovery plan as part of your overall data management and business strategy,” said David West, CommVault’s vice president of Marketing and Business Development. “This study reveals that the use of technology such as replication, along with other key data management solutions, can go a long way to reducing risk and helping IT align itself with business objectives, by simply ensuring access and availability of business-critical information and reducing overall operational costs.”

Companies today are under increased pressure to meet regulatory requirements for business continuity, information security and/or electronic records retention. Of those IT administrators surveyed, 34 percent represent publicly held companies where the issue of non-compliance is a significant concern. Replication solutions alone cannot meet companies’ needs for data protection, recovery and retention. The survey suggests that IT administrators agree, and in order to meet regulatory requirements, two thirds of respondents are using replication software in combination with other CommVault data management functionality, including CommVault^® Data Protection (83 percent) and Data Archival or Migration software (17 percent).

“We believe companies are starting to look for solutions that integrate data protection, replication, and archiving, which facilitate lifecycle management and compliance. Companies should also demand that solutions with these critical components allow management from a single console to maximize operational efficiency,” said Laura DuBois, research director for IDC's Storage Software group. “The results from the CommVault survey further validate that a convergence of backup and replication technologies is taking place. Those vendors that are leading the pack offer solutions with heterogeneous platform support and the ability to replicate popular applications while maintaining data in a consistent state, such as CommVault’s CDR software.”