First Technology debuts cloud storage offerings

Local IT specialists First Technology National has announced the release of Data Backup/Archiving as a Service, powered by Commvault and FirstNet Technology Services.
This is one of the first offerings of its kind in Africa in partnership with Commvault.
The solution helps South African organisations of all sizes capitalise on the transformational advantages of moving one’s data to FirstNet’s local Public cloud. It covers the entire spectrum of archiving, backup, moving files, searching, securing, retrieving, secure file sync, and sharing.
Available as an on premise or hybrid cloud solution, Data Backup and Archiving as a Service enables clients to move from capital-intensive models that require them to invest in technology outright, to a more flexible, opex-based consumption model. Clients can view their Backup and Archive reports and completion statuses via their own portal, providing them with visibility and control. They can choose whether to manage their own backups or request a fully managed service from First Technology National.
“We’ve pulled together the local expertise from First Technology National, with Commvault’s market-leading data management software, and FirstNet’s infrastructure assets – to create a strong, feature-rich solution,” explains First Technology’s technical architect lead, Tommy Ferreira.
It ensures workloads are optimised, complexities and costs of cloud migration are mitigated, and the post-migration operations are managed effectively and securely.
Ferreira says the release of Data Backup and Archiving as a Service is critical in today’s technology world. As organisations continue to generate exponentially more data each year, having a flexible and scalable data management solution is becoming a key priority of CIOs in every company.
Johan Scheepers, systems engineering director for the Middle East, South Africa and Turkey (MESAT) adds: “For the sixth consecutive year, Commvault has been named as a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant. This year, it has raced away from the pack, ranking highest in terms of both completeness of vision and ability to execute.”
Most importantly, Scheepers adds, is that the solution enables clients to become ‘cloud-portable’ – eliminating any lock-in and gaining the freedom to move one’s data to the virtualisation platform of their choice. It is based on a flexible pay-as-you-go model, which ensures clients only pay for the data management services that they actually need.
Clients benefit from First Technology National’s best-practice consulting assessment, which includes a number of tools to understand a client’s specific needs, existing license agreements, and data retention policies. From there, it selects the most appropriate cloud platform for each client.
From small and medium-sized firms, to the largest blue-chip corporations, clients will benefit from automated workflow schedules and more frequent disaster recovery testing. This reduces the need for manual, repetitive tasks, and releases a client’s IT team to focus on more strategic aspects of their portfolios.
“Our partnership with FirstNet – which operates a tier-three data centre – allows us to accommodate clients who want to maintain their data locally. This ensures compliance with The Protection of Personal Information Act, and one’s security, compliance and governance requirements,” adds Ferreira.