Data Backup Over the Phone

Jim McDonough

You've ordered Chinese takeout and pizza over the phone, so why not call to order data backup? This spring, Canadian-based Telebackup Systems, Inc., released a software package that backs up hard drives over standard telephone lines. TSI is currently licensing the technology to Internet service providers (ISPs) and telephone utilities, which will offer the backup service to any modem-attached user.

TSI's CEO Byron Osing says that value-added service providers will most likely charge a monthly fee of between $15 and $20 for daily backups of a PC. So far, TSI has reached an agreement with Toronto-based Hookup Communications, a large ISP, to utilize the technology. Osing says that many U.S. health-care providers have expressed interest in the off-site stor age solution. Telebackup can perform daily backups on as many as 2500 standard PCs per day.

Of course, using a telephone line to make daily backups of a hard drive makes most people think twice. It can take up to 10 hours to initially back up a 1-GB hard drive over the telephone lines, but Osing says that Telebackup can detect the files used during the day and back them up in approximately 5 to 10 min-utes. It does this using a cyclic redundancy check (CRC), which is a method for verifying data transmission by comparing numbers at the sending and receiving ends. You can restore single files from the off-site provider or get a complete off-site CD-ROM copy of your hard drive in case of hardware theft or a disk calamity.

The Telebackup service is limited to DOS and Windows 3.x, 95, and NT on the client side, but Osing says that the company will soon extend it to OS/2 and other platforms. Targeted at small businesses and home users, Telebackup p oses no threat to on-line tape-library storage. TSI, however, plans to spin off a LAN-backup product later this year.

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Product Information

Telebackup...................About $15-$20 per month

Telebackup Systems, Inc.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Phone:    (403) 283-3995
Internet: 
http://www.telebackup.com

Circle 1027 on Inquiry Card.

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Another Reason to Use the Phone

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