Quorum launches UK’s 'first' hybrid-cloud disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) for SMBs

Quorum, a US-based disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) specialist, has launched its onQ hybrid-cloud service for SMBs into the UK. Unlike cloud-based data backup environments that simply restore data, Quorum’s DRaaS offering instantly restores the entire IT workflow (applications, servers, and data). The company has just launched its UK & EMEA operations, which will be headed up by David Fisk. This and the new product, specifically designed for UK, highlights the company’s commitment to the region.

The new onQ hybrid-cloud service is aimed at small to mid-size businesses (SMB) that need robust disaster recovery as much as large enterprises, but without the complexity or high cost associated with traditional data centre replication. It is the first cloud-based DRaaS solution in the UK to integrate an onsite DR appliance with a cloud-based DR platform that provides daily, automated testing of data and servers.

To guarantee that all UK customer data stays within the UK, the cloud-based part of Quorum’s new service will be offered through a dedicated and certified UK data centre.

The onQ platform was originally developed for US navy warships to ensure that on-ship computers never ‘go down’ during combat. The highly robust technology is today designed for businesses to rapidly recover their most critical applications and data in the cloud after any storage, systems or site failure.

onQ works by ensuring critical applications are always ready-to-run (or test) in the Quorum cloud by working in conjunction with the on-premise onQ high-availability (HA) appliance. This approach means that there is no need to ship new hardware, or even construct a machine from an image after a disaster as per most traditional DR applications. As a result, recovery time for onQ users is measured in minutes, not days.

Banbury based UK reseller Covenco Recovery Services, is already working with Quorum to bring the solution to market. Gurdip Sohal, Sales Director at Covenco, said: "Quorum's technology allows us to provide our customers with a seemless backup & disaster recovery solution which removes complexity and adds great value to their operations. The ability to offer a robust DRaaS option gives us an important and growing revenue stream that allows us to take a long-term approach with our customers rather than a one-point deal.”

Tony Craythorne, vice president of worldwide sales at Quorum, said: “UK firms have an ever-decreasing tolerance for delays or interruptions to business caused by IT failure. With revenues and brand credibility at stake, an apology for slow recovery in the event of a disaster is simply not acceptable. A cloud-based approach to disaster recovery, versus traditional approaches, delivers a more affordable yet more robust choice for many UK businesses.”

Lower pricing per server
Quorum has chosen to further differentiate its offering by selling DRaaS on a per server basis, than per gigabyte. This makes the onQ hybrid-cloud service solution typically 50% more affordable for SMB and mid-market organisations.

Craythorne explains: “The traditional gigabyte sales model risks becoming very expensive as data scales, and incorrectly puts the focus on data; in contrast, Quorum puts the focus on business operations, which is the value we deliver. Our goal is to acquire new customers by offering them a more comprehensive solution at a far better total cost.”

Other key takeaways:
· Exceptional security: All data transferred from the HA appliance to the DR cloud goes through a 128 bit AES encrypted session over a 256 bit AES VPN tunnel directly connecting the cloud to the local appliance. There is a dedicated firewall isolating each individual virtual network enabling access to the DR recovery node. All connections to the DR nodes are done via VPN to that firewall.
· PCI Compliance: Quorum is the only instant recovery solution available that is fully certified to the international Payment Card Industry (PCI) security standards. This ensures that when failover into Quorum’s DRaaS or onQ Appliance happens confidential payment card information can be handled in a fully PCI compliant manner.
· Automatic testing: Unlike other cloud storage and data backup solutions, onQ presents a current virtual copy of any server - always on and ready-to-run. Additionally with onQ, daily tests are performed automatically on the servers. Because of cost and complexity, these tests are rarely performed with traditional back-up cloud solutions.