IBM Software Computer services Case Study

Cobalt Iron cuts customer backup system deployment from weeks to hours IBM Tivoli Storage Manager software fuels IBM Business Partner’s Backup as a Service offering

Headquartered in Lawrence, Kansas, IBM Business Partner Cobalt Iron Overview is a provider of data protection solutions and storage management services, designing and deploying backup and recovery solutions for Deployment complexity organizations of all sizes. Taking months or weeks to deploy data backup and recovery systems, IBM Business Partner Cobalt Iron’s customers needed to Challenge speed deployment despite rapid growth in Independent of size or industry, companies rely on increasingly complex data and application environments. systems to drive their businesses. Most are experiencing a data explosion Cloud-based backup and recovery and a rapid growth in new applications, requiring equally complex backup Cobalt Iron delivers a cloud-based Backup and recovery environments. as a Service offering built on IBM® Tivoli® Storage Manager software. “Our customers have been challenged by the large number of pieces and Delivering speed and flexibility parts it requires to deploy comprehensive backup and recovery capabilities,” Cobalt Iron transforms backup and says Richard Spurlock, chief executive officer (CEO) and founder of recovery into a highly scalable business service, reducing deployment and time Cobalt Iron. “Traditionally, successful deployments have taken a lot to value from months or weeks to hours. of time and engineering expertise.”

IT organizations, however, must do more with less, which fuels demand Solution Component for evermore efficient and consumable data protection technologies. Cobalt Iron customers looked to the company for a versatile, scalable and Software simple backup and recovery model to replace the available technology, • IBM® Tivoli® Storage Manager which was difficult to deploy and operate. “They wanted ease of use, ease of deployment and a consistent cost model that would allow them to focus more on their customers and their core business rather than on building backup and recovery,” says Spurlock. “It has been a constant challenge for them to stay current by deploying new systems and the latest upgrades.” Solution Cobalt Iron transformed backup and recovery into an easy-to-consume, cloud-based service by combining its pre-built appliances, which accelerate the backup process in case of massive data volumes or limited bandwidth availability, with IBM Tivoli Storage Manager software. © Copyright IBM Corporation 2013

According to Spurlock, Tivoli Storage Manager software is the foundation IBM Corporation of Cobalt Iron cloud services and appliances, accelerating time to market Systems and Technology Group Route 100 and providing a comprehensive set of features and functions. “With Tivoli Somers, NY 10589 Storage Manager, we provide scalability, availability and platform diversity Produced in the United States of America in a single solution rather than needing multiple products to cover all the December2013 systems, applications and locations that need to be protected,” he says. “Instead of taking six months or six weeks to deploy a solution, we now can IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com and Tivoli are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp., registered in many have customers in production, backing up and protecting their systems the jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names same day.” might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at “Copyright and trademark information” at The new cloud model helps Cobalt Iron virtually eliminate deployment www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml. challenges for large, small and midmarket organizations. “It really defines This document is current as of the initial date of publication a new approach and a new solution set for managed service providers and may be changed by IBM at any time. Not all offerings are in our space,” notes Spurlock. “We provide a cloud-based service that available in every country in which IBM operates.

enables customers to deliver backup and recovery services without all The client examples cited are presented for illustrative purposes the administration, all the engineering and all the maintenance that steals only. Actual performance results may vary depending on specific their time and their attention away from their core business.” configurations and operating conditions. It is the user’s responsibility to evaluate and verify the Benefits operation of any other products or programs with IBM products and programs. • Reduces backup system deployments from months to weeks or hours • Eliminates complexity by replacing multiple products with one solution THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, • Helps customers focus on their core business instead of on backup EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT ANY and recovery WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND ANY WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF NON-INFRINGEMENT. IBM For more information products are warranted according to the terms and conditions To learn more about IBM Tivoli Storage Manager software, please of the agreements under which they are provided. contact your IBM marketing representative or IBM Business Partner, or visit the following website: Please Recycle ibm.com/software/tivoli.

“With Tivoli Storage Manager, we provide scalability, availability and platform diversity in a single solution rather than needing multiple products to cover all the systems, applications and locations that need to be protected.”

—Richard Spurlock, chief executive officer and founder, Cobalt Iron

TIC14321-USEN-00