Echo Backup “Cost-Effective Backup Software for Private Networks”

Echo Backup“Cost-Effective Backup Software for Private Networks”

Presented by theBlue Team

5 April 2012 1

Milestone Presentation

Echo Backup

• About the Team• Problem Definition• Customer Base• Solution• Work Breakdown Structures• Sitemap and GUI Mockups• Risks• Costs• Conclusion

Outline

5 April 2012 2Echo Backup

Team Leadership


James Tate Project Manager

Justin Brunelle Mitre Mentor

Team Membership


Will Ross Software Engineering

Alan Carwile Documentation

Team Membership


Tom Staley Risk Analysis

Patrick Reynolds Web Development

Team Membership


Shane Brennan Marketing

Chris Featherston Software Engineering

Sarah Zeil Risk Analysis

Data Loss

• Data loss is catastrophic.– Photographers can lose priceless photographs.– Accountants can lose years of financial records.– The costs of not being able to conduct business at full capacity can be

astronomical.• A backup solution that takes advantage of existing network

resources is needed.


Data Integrity

• Most backup solutions require additional hardware or storage media.

• Echo Backup saves backups on other nodes of a local area network.– No additional hardware costs– Data is readily available– Fewer security concerns due to onsite data


Frequency of Data Loss

• 70% of small firms that experience major data loss go out of business within a year.2

• A 2009 survey by Kroll Ontrack polled IT managers from 945 companies.1

– 49% of all IT managers reported a data loss situation in the two years prior.

– 36% felt that data loss could have a significant impact on their business.

– “An alarming 49 percent of small companies stated that they fail to back up their data on a daily basis.”

– 45% of companies with 50 or less employees have no backup plan.

5 April 2012 9

From Tech Managers Often Underestimate Impact of Data Loss1

Impact on U.S. Small Business of Natural & Man-Made Disasters2

Echo Backup

From Data Loss and Hard Drive Failure: Understanding the Causes and Costs3

Causes of Data Loss


Drive read instability30%

Drive failure38%

Other7%

User error12%

Software issues13%

Routine backups are the best practice to manage drive failure and instability.

Impact of Data Recovery• If no backups were used and the hard drive is intact, data can

sometimes be recovered.• The cost of data recovery can vary widely and depends on

– Severity of damage– Urgency– Parts required– Size and type of storage media

• Recovery following a data loss episode is expensive.• If the data cannot be recovered, it is permanently lost and the costs

can be significantly higher.

From Data Loss and Hard Drive Failure: Understanding the Causes and Costs3


• Typically one to two dozen computers7

• Lack dedicated IT support7

• Much smaller budgets than Enterprise• Need for security and encryption• Over 50% wary of online solutions8

Small Businesses

5 April 2012 12

From Designing and Building the Best Small Office Network From the Ground Up7

The Universe of Corporate PC Backup Options8

Echo Backup

• 94% of computer users risk losing their data5

• Only 6% of users have adequate backup• Users have irreplaceable files (pictures, video)• Users are not always technically savvy

Consumer Home Networks

5 April 2012 13

From 4th Annual Backblaze Data Backup Study Finds 94% of People Risk Data Loss5

Echo Backup

Computers Per Home Network

5 April 2012 14

From The Complex & Surprising Anatomy of a Home Network6

Echo Backup

One3.80%

Two13.28%

Three18.98%

Four21.31%

Five14.89%

Five or more27.74%

83% of homes have three or more computers

Current Solutions

• Dedicated hardware– Expensive

• Additional local storage– Optical media

• Fragile• High maintenance

– External disks• Expensive

– Flash storage• Expensive• Easy to misplace

• Cloud backups– Monthly fee and bandwidth usage


Problem Without Solution

5 April 2012 16

Small business or home user needs data on a PC.

Users attempts to access files.

Something is wrong with the needed data. Many causes. Bottom line is the file is missing or not in the state the user wanted.

User has no backup. Data might be able to be recreated but this takes time. Irreplaceable data is gone forever. Businesses lose money due to lost records. Personal anguish has occurred.

Echo Backup

Echo Backup aims to provide cost-effective, easy to use and reliable backups to home, small and medium-sized LANs.

Solution Objective


To meet this objective, Echo Backup must• Not be susceptible to a single point of failure• Be inexpensive• Have no recurring fees• Use only existing hardware• Not need WAN access• Be easy for untrained staff to use• Give peace-of-mind to owners, operators, and users• Optionally make use of centralized management

Solution Characteristics


A simple LAN with four devices• Clients subscribe to a channel to listen for neighbors

How it Works


One client sends a hello to all nodes on the LAN.

How it Works (cont.)


Nodes running Echo Backup respond with their own hellos. Direct connections are created between nodes.



Backups of machine A are made on machines B and C. Various “smart” algorithms determine how much data to save on each node.

AB

C



5 April 2012 Echo Backup 23


The data on the user’s PC ismissing or damaged. The user accesses the recovery interface of Echo Backup to restore data from a desired point in time.



If the user’s computer is completely unusable, he or she can recover data from any other node on the LAN.


Backup Algorithm

Data needs to be backed-up.

The data is combined into a stream.

The stream is compressed.

The chunks are distributed to

network nodes.

The chunks are encrypted for storage and again for

network transmission.

The stream is broken into chunks.

• Benefits– Simple interface– Data integrity– Low cost– No need for additional hardware– Easy node additions

• Caveats– May be easy, but yet another interface to learn– Installation management may be cumbersome for larger

networks– Highly dynamic nodes (laptops, etc) may pose problems

Benefits & Caveats to the Consumer


Problem Solved with Echo Backup

5 April 2012 27

User has Echo Backup.

Data problem is discovered.

Echo Backup was previously used to create a redundant LAN backup plan.

Echo Backup ensures up-to-date backups are available from multiple sources.

Echo Backup allows user to go back to a working state where all data is present and usable. Virtually no time,

money, or anguish occurred.

Echo Backup runs in the background keeping backups

current.

Echo Backup

Major Functional Component Diagram


Milestones


EchoBackup

Software SupportInterfaces Hardware

Software Milestones


Software

Network Storage AIUI General

Software -> Network


Software

Storage AIUI General

DataTransmission

Encryption

NodeDiscovery

Network

Software -> Storage


Software

AIUI General

Indexing

Encryption

Compression

Network Storage

Software -> User Interfaces


Software

AI General

Management GUI

End User GUIs

Network Storage UI

Software -> Artificial Intelligence


Software

General

Scheduling

Data Discovery

Storage Multiplexing

Network Storage UI AI

Software -> General


Software

Design /Modularization

Mac / Unix / Windows

Network Storage UI AI General

Interface Milestones


Interfaces

End-User to Node

End-User to Support

Node to Network

Interface -> End-User to Node


Interfaces

End-User to Node

End-User to Support

Node to Network

BackupScheduling

Prioritize Data

Partition Data to Preferred Nodes

Initiate Backup Retrieval

Interface -> Node to Network


Interfaces

End-User to Node

End-User to Support

Node to Network

Broadcast Data to Networked Nodes

Store Data Locations in Index Table

Search Index Table for Data Locations

Retrieve Data from Networked Nodes

Interface -> End-User to Support


Interfaces

End-User to Node

End-User to Support

Node to Network

Contact Support Staff

Submit Ticket

Request On-site Support

Initiate Chat Support

Support Milestones


Support

Ticket System (TS) (SaaS) Support Staff On-site Support

(Customer Pays)

Instant Message / Chat Support (FOSS)

Knowledge Base

Telephone TS Integr. - Free

Mobile Apps Included in TS (Tech Support

on the go)

Email TS Integr. - Included

Custom Rules

Hardware Milestones


Development

DevelopmentServer

Test Hardware

Staff Workstations

Updates Websites

DNS, SSL

Web Server(s)Servers

ServersCo-location

Hardware

GUI Site Map


Echo Backup

Node Sets Scheduler Backup Status

Memory Report

Node Sets


Node Sets

Usage Percentage Setting

Modify Existing Node Set

Discover Nodes

Redundancy Setting

Select Nodes in Set

Save Node Set

Scheduler


Scheduler

New Schedule

Modify Existing Backup Schedule

Starting Date and Time

Backup Frequency

Node Set to Backup

Save Backup Schedule

Backup Status


Backup Status

View Status of Backups

Run Individual or all Backups Now

Last Successful Backup Date and Time

Next Schedule Backup Date and Time

Node Sets


Scheduler


Backup Status


Memory Report


Competitor Features

• Echo Backup’s competitors are divided into three groups.• The groups are online backup services, online storage, and backup

software.• Backup software competitors are feature rich.• Online backup competitors are feature limited.• Online storage competitors are more geared toward sharing.• Full feature listing of the competition can be found in the

competition matrices.


http://cs.odu.edu/~410blue/adhoc/competition-matrix

Echo Backup Features• Echo Backup will provide all those features and will also provide:

– Automatic backup source selection– Backup to LAN nodes– SMART drive scanning– Restore from any networked node– Mac, Linux, and GNU OS support– Trusted and non-trusted node listings– Remote, centralized management– Automatic node detection– Bandwidth and storage throttling– Data to node multiplexing


Top Competitors and Echo Backup Pricing

• Top competitor backup software such as NovaBACKUP, DT Utilities PC Backup, Genie Backup Manger, and Aronis True Image ranges from $44.95 - $49.99.

• Top competitor online service such as SugarSync, SafeSync, SOS Online Backup, and Jungle Disk charge monthly fees based on how much backup data you have. ZipCloud is $9.95 for unlimited storage.

• Online storage companies claim to be “free” but actually use auto-delete, are free only if you do not exceed a certain amount of data, or delete data after the account has been inactive for a certain period of time.

• Echo Backup will be $39.99 for a household license. A volume license will be available for business owners and the price is to be determined.

• Return on Investment: Echo Backup pays for itself many times over for even one data recovery.


Risk Matrix


T1 - Mobile nodesT2 - SecurityT3 - CompatibilityT4 - Available storagespace for backups

C1 - Customer skill level

S1 - Over schedule

F1 - Over budget

Risk Definitions


Technical Risks:T1 - Mobile network nodes will be frequently entering and exiting the network, possibly taking backup data with them.

T2 - The data needs to be properly secured.Mitigation - Use encryption (SSL) whenever data is transferred over a network, and allow an additional option for encryption passwords set by the user.

T3- The software might not be compatible with every customer’s system.Mitigation - Have a developer on staff for each major operating system.

T4 - A large number of backups could reduce the amount available space remaining for the owner of each node to use.Mitigation - The user at each node will designate a certain amount of space to be used for backups.

Risk Definitions


Customer Risks:C1 - Customers might not be knowledgeable enough to fully utilize our product.Mitigation - Make the software intuitive and offer support, training, and documentation on the use of our product.

Schedule Risks:S1 - The project might take longer than scheduled. Financial Risks:F1 - The project might go over budget.

Milestone Chart


Gantt Chart


Salary Costs

5 April 2012 58Echo Backup*Salary Sources: www.glassdoor.com

PositionStaff

Count Salary*Hourly Rate

Development Hours

Development Cost Cost (1 year)

Project Manager 1 $84,000 $40.38 2,080 $84,000 $84,000

Software Engineer 2 $75,000 $36.06 1,400 $100,962 $125,481

Web Developer 1 $75,000 $36.06 400 $14,423 $75,000

System Administrator 1 $78,000 $37.50 2,080 $78,000 $78,000

Support Technician 2 $48,000 $23.08 112 $5,169 $50,585

Total $282,554 $413,065

Combined Costs


Item First Year Cost

Staff Salaries $413,000

Overhead $165,000

Development Server $8,000

Web Servers $12,000

Test Hardware $10,000

Staff Workstations $12,000

Support Tools $10,000

Total $630,000

*Salary Sources: www.glassdoor.com

Conclusion

• The milestones are clear and attainable.• The budget and schedule are reasonable.• Echo Backup can come to fruition:

– On time.– On budget.– Solving the need for cheap, reliable LAN backups.


References1. Ko, Carol. Tech Managers Often Underestimate Impact of Data Loss. June 21, 2009.

(http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/167077/tech_managers_often_underestimate_impact_of_data_loss.html). February 26, 2012.

2. HP and Score: Counselors to America’s Small Business. Impact on U.S. Small Business of Natural & Man-Made Disasters. 2007. (http://www.edwardsinformation.com/content/ImpactofDisaster.pdf). February 26, 2012.

3. Smith, David M. and Williams, Michael L. Data Loss and Hard Drive Failure: Understanding the Causes and Costs. 2010. (http://www.deepspar.com/wp-data-loss.html). February 26, 2012.

4. Pinheiro, Eduardo, Weber, Wolf-Dietrich, and Barroso, Luiz Andre. Failure Trends in a Large Disk Drive Population. February 2007. (http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/research.google.com/en/us/archive/disk_failures.pdf). February 26, 2012.

5. PRWEB. 4th Annual Backblaze Data Backup Study Finds 94% of People Risk Data Loss. July 12, 2011. (http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2011/7/prweb8638582.htm). February 26, 2012.


6. Rusen, Ciprian Adrian. The Complex & Surprising Anatomy of a Home Network. April 4, 2011. (http://www.7tutorials.com/complex-often-surprising-anatomy-home-network). February 26, 2012.

7. Breeding, Marshall. Designing and Building the Best Small Office Network From the Ground Up. (http://www.networkcomputing.com/netdesign/soho1.html). February 26, 2012.

8. Dines, Rachel; Kane, Christian. Update Q4 2010: The Universe of Corporate PC Backup Options. November 18, 2010.

9. US Department of Labor (USDL). Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. February 26, 2012.

10. glassdoor. “An indies look at jobs and companies.” www.glassdoor.com

References


Questions?

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Echo Backup “Cost-Effective Backup Software for Private Networks”