United Plastics Group Inc. Cuts iSeries Backup Window By 40%
CUSTOMER PROFILE
COMPANY
United Plastics Group, IncTempe, AZ
INDUSTRY
Manufacturer - Healthcare& Industrial/Specialty
ISSUES
- Shorten backup time frames
- Eliminates hassle with tape
- Gain network access to backups
KEY SOLUTION
LaserVault Universal Backup Device (UBD)
UBD BENEFITS
- Backup time cut by 40%
- Easy configuration and integration into existing procedures
- Elimination of backup tape media
- Saves company money and labor resources
- A very happy boss
- Zero problems
Challenges
Marito “MAR” Omay Catipay, manager of iSeries® Administration, Programming, and ERP/MRP support at United Plastics Group, Inc. (UPG), needed a backup solution that would shorten their 3590 daily, weekly and monthly tape backup time frames while providing them with remote management. MAR states:
“Every week I made a 60-mile roundtrip to our data center in Irvine, CA to replace backup tapes. Last year, when UPG was acquired by MedPlast, my boss, Dan Streufert, was intent on consolidating and moving the iSeries to a Data Center in Scottsdale, AZ. I was tasked with finding a solution that would remove the remote tape handling hassle of our ‘dinosaur’ 3590 Tape Drive, which is 3 times the size of the iSeries box, while providing network-attached backup management.”
Solution
“Having heard about their UBD™ system, I immediately contacted LaserVault. After seeing their online demo, I knew it was the solution for us. The LaserVault UBD was easy to configure and took little time to install and interface with our iSeries. I simply arranged for our business partner to install a Fibre Channel Interface (FCI) card in our iSeries then connected the UBD to the FCI.
“Initially, we used a USB external drive as temporary backup storage; then moved the iSeries and the UBD appliance to our facility in Scottsdale, AZ where we switched to using our SAN/NAS as the permanent backup storage without any reconfiguration on the UBD appliance. I even created a CL program that automated our Daily (Differential) and Weekly (full user library) backups without human intervention.
“Using the UBD Web Management Interface, we now have a completely remote iSeries system and administration backup where all I need do is check the storage capacity and delete old backup files if necessary.”
Summary
“The LaserVault UBD solution cut our backup time 40% from using our 3590 tape drive and provides us remote management in one software package. With UPG having plants accessing applications on the iSeries 24/7 from different countries, we really needed this solution to help shorten our backup downtime and save our company a lot of money and resources.” – MAR Catipay
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