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Success story · Data protection

Colombia's electricity market operator moves from tape to disk and cloud with automated, replicated backup

Redsis rebuilt the backup solution across both of the company's data centers: Veeam Backup & Replication and IBM Spectrum Protect on new hardware, replication between the primary and secondary sites, and Microsoft Azure as the repository for data retention policies.

Client

Operator of Colombia's wholesale electricity market

Industry

Electric power

Location

Medellín, Colombia

Solution

Veeam Backup & Replication · IBM Spectrum Protect · Azure

Service line

Data protection & infrastructure

The client

The client operates Colombia's national interconnected power system and administers the country's wholesale electricity market. Headquartered in Medellín, it is a subsidiary of one of Latin America's largest energy-infrastructure groups and provides management of real-time transactional systems and technology platforms across energy, finance and transportation.

Given its role, it handles information that is critical to the country's power sector, spread across many information systems. Losing a backup, or being unable to restore it in time, is not an option.

The challenge

The company was protecting its data with legacy backup software writing to tape. The goal was to move to disk-based backup with advanced features to optimize storage capacity, replication across geographically separate sites and cloud integration.

  • Secure the data from multiple information systems residing on the company's storage systems.
  • Improve availability of the backup service through replicas between the primary and secondary data centers.
  • Optimize the storage dedicated to backup copies.
  • Integrate with the cloud for long-term retention.
  • Scale with the business through a flexible architecture that keeps pace with growing information systems.

Before and after

Before

Legacy tape backup

Previous-generation backup software, tape copies and limited ability to replicate across sites or integrate with the cloud.

Today

Disk-based, replicated and cloud-ready

Veeam Backup & Replication and IBM Spectrum Protect, replication across two data centers and Azure as the retention repository.

The solution

Redsis delivered an end-to-end refresh for the primary and secondary data centers, covering hardware (servers, storage systems and Ethernet switches), structured cabling, the backup tools and a set of specialized engineering services, plus warranty, support and maintenance.

Veeam Backup & Replication for VMware and Intel servers

For VMware virtualized systems and Intel-based physical servers, Redsis implemented Veeam Backup & Replication Enterprise Plus on a subscription basis. With Veeam, the company moved from tape to fully automated disk-based backup, with:

  • Automated, policy-driven disk backups with no media handling.
  • Data replication between the primary and secondary data centers.
  • Reporting on backup status.
  • Capacity planning for the backup platform.
  • Microsoft Azure integration as the repository for data retention policies.

IBM Spectrum Protect for Oracle and AIX

For Oracle workloads and AIX servers, Redsis implemented IBM Spectrum Protect (now IBM Storage Protect). At the time of the project it was the most mature option for integrating with RMAN, Oracle's native backup tool, and with AIX. Each workload type was protected with the tool best suited to it, under a single strategy.

Results

From tape to disk

Fully automated backup, with reporting and capacity planning.

Two data centers

Data replication between the primary and secondary sites for a more available backup service.

Azure for retention

The cloud as the repository for data retention policies.

  • Veeam Enterprise Plus
  • Spectrum Protect (Oracle and AIX)
  • VMware
  • Servers, storage and network
  • Structured cabling

Why Redsis

A backup project at this scale takes more than licenses: hardware has to be sized, network and cabling designed, several tools integrated and everything left running with support. With more than 25 years in mission-critical infrastructure across Latin America, Redsis delivered the complete solution (hardware, software, cabling and engineering) with a single point of accountability for both data centers.

Are your backups still on tape?

Let's talk about moving your data protection to disk, across sites and into the cloud, without losing control of retention.

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