Sony Network Communications slashes backup window by 66%
and data volume by 80%
Internet service provider simplifies the backup and restore of 2,000 virtual machines with automated processes
Challenge
- Improve backup and recovery of online services and customer information
- Create flexible licensing structure to prevent issues with growing data volumes
- Automate backup target list process and reduce IT staff workload
Solution
- Commvault Complete™ Backup & Recovery simplifies and strengthens data protection across 2,000 virtual machines
- Commvault Professional Services team completes deployment in days
Result
- 86% deduplication rate significantly accelerates backup processes
- Reduced backup data volume by 80%
- Maximized existing storage resource without having to spend on new hardware
- 66% reduction in average backup times
- Lowered operating costs by adopting socket-based licensing and leveraging existing storage
- Significantly reduced IT workload by automatically detecting and updating backup settings for 2,000 virtual machines
Industry
ISP, Telecommunication
Headquarters
Tokyo, Japan
URL
https://www.sonynetwork.co.jp/
In numbers
- Employees: 866 (on March 31, 2018)
- Founded in 1995
- Capitalization: 7,969 million Yen
The backup environment
- 2,000 virtual machines running on 100 VMware servers
- Backup target data volume of 400 TB
- HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage
Revolutionizing backup and recovery for a virtualized infrastructure
Established in 1995, Sony Network Communications is a Japanese Internet service provider (ISP) operating under the brand names “So-net” and “PostPet™.” It recently expanded to provide a range of B2B and B2C telecommunication services, and embraced new trends in technology, such as IoT.
As an ISP, Sony Network Communications stores a wide range of data, including user credentials, email messages, billing information, support requests and system logs, across 2,000 VMware virtual machines. To ensure stable and resilient services, the company must quickly back up and restore this data in the event of a cyberattack or system outage.
“Previously, we relied on a legacy tool to take copies of application and system data, but it was time-consuming to update the backup settings every time we added or removed a virtual machine,” says Ryohei Kiyoyama, Infrastructure Operation Section, IT Platform Department, System Engineering, Sony Network Communications Inc.
Sony Network Communications decided to simplify and strengthen backup and recovery by deploying a dedicated solution. It selected Commvault Complete™ Backup & Recovery due to its ease of use, rapid restore times, cost-effective licensing, and automation features.
Reducing backup times and volumes with deduplication
With the Commvault solution, Sony Network Communications can now automatically detect hundreds of changes made to virtual machines every year and update the backup target list without manual intervention. This significantly reduces the workload for daily backup operations and enables the IT team to focus on other valuable tasks.
“By blending incremental and full backups with Commvault, we achieved a deduplication rate of 86% and reduced the volume of backup data by 80%. Such improvement allows us to store 400 TB of target virtual machine data as just 80 TB of backup data,” Kiyoyama explains.
The Commvault solution’s superior backup speed also cut the average backup window by 66%, helping the company conduct a weekly backup schedule and maintain the backup data for one month.
In addition, Commvault’s Professional Services team helped Sony Network Communications to implement the new data management solution quickly and seamlessly.
By automating our backup and recovery processes with Commvault, we gained a deduplication ratio of 86% and slashed data volume by 80%. This has not only dramatically reduced our workload but also enabled us to continue leveraging our existing investment.
— Ryohei Kiyoyama, Infrastructure Operation Section, IT Platform Department, System Engineering | Sony Network Communications Inc
Cuts licensing costs and supports data growth
With data volumes increasing every year, Commvault’s socket-based pricing model has helped Sony Network Communications to lower licensing costs compared to its previous volume-based model. It also eliminates the risk of running out of storage capacity for backups.
The biggest advantage of the Commvault solution is its ability to adapt and scale with the company’s changing environment. Sony Network Communications plans to use the multi-tenant function to delegate data backup and restore to each business department to help them better manage their own needs.
The company is also investigating how Commvault can be integrated with its physical backup operations and be used to protect public cloud resources.
A single, powerful solution for data protection – wherever your data lives.