Let’s face it; calculating storage is not always easy. It is nearly impossible to calculate how much storage you are going to need for each project. The recommended storage capacity and retention times are often not accurate estimates. For example, it used to be safe to say that 90 days retention was plenty but we are now looking at storage retention rates for 5 maybe 10 years. This is mainly due to new business needs such as marketing analytics and video positioning. Long term video storage is now more common. How do you determine how much storage capacity your surveillance project requires?

Hurricane Sandy has been the major talk in the news lately. How many companies lost essential data and documents because of the loss of their server? The threats to your data are limitless even without a natural disaster, such as theft or hardware failure. In the event of a data loss you will not be able to replicate these files unless you have a back up copy. This can be a huge issue for many companies. You need to be prepared.

Budgets are Tight, Help Your Client Stretch Their Dollars 

In today’s market everyone’s budgets are tight, making larger purchases is often a lengthy and drawn out process. One of the biggest hindrances to major upgrades or installs is cash flow. Companies are unsure if they should be making an investment. What can you do to get them off the fence? Have you offered your clients leasing as an option? Leasing has some really great benefits for both you and your customers.

Does Your Data Storage Solutions Come Complete?

When selecting a storage appliance: are you getting everything you need in the box? Picking an appliance from some of the larger vendors can be a lot like choosing a vacation resort or cruise; make sure that you select an all inclusive appliance or you end up getting nickel and dimed into extra expenses. How awkward would it be to get halfway through an installation at your customer’s site, only to find that you would have to go back to them and try and re-negotiate the sale because a key feature that you need was not turned on.

Proprietary Storage Platform Learning Curve is Steep

Ever been frustrated by the learning curve on a storage appliance? Proprietary Linux kernal based interfaces are all different and learning their individual idiosyncrasis is painful. In order to ensure that you are able to efficiently and correctly set up a storage appliance for your customer, you need to be comfortable knowing that you understand how to navigate and what settings to apply.

Security and surveillance deployments come in all shapes and sizes.  Regardless of the size of the deployment, these projects vary based on the complexity of the scenes that are being recorded and archived.  There are many unique variables that go into properly calculating storage.  So where do you start?

Not everyone needs to have a comprehensive back-up plan. Small Office Home Office (SOHO) or Clinics with less than 25-30 people simply need their files protected from hard disk failure or human error. Backing up standard office files with plain Jane USB hard drives have been the go to medium for some time now.  Larger files such as graphic design, CAD, accounting or other sizable files that might grow the backup window.

Are you still storing your customer’s critical business data to tape? Magnetic media has been the go to choice for regular offsite back up since the beginning of the PC era.  Newer technologies and reliable broadband Internet connectivity allow for more flexible and more recoverable disaster plans.

All your customers should have a back-up plan in place. For some clients this might mean a tape drive with daily rotation or disk-to-disk backup with offsite storage. Sometimes simple is all that is needed and when it comes to back up solutions simple helps to ensure that it gets used. For smaller SMB and SOHO customers a couple of standout solutions are available.