“Nobody ever got fired for buying AWS.” It’s true: AWS’s one-size-fits-all solution worked great for most businesses, and those businesses made the shift away from the traditional model of on-prem and self-hosted servers—what we think of as Cloud 1.0—to an era where AWS was the cloud, the one and only, which is what we call Cloud 2.0. However, as the cloud landscape evolves, it’s time to question the old ways. Maybe nobody ever got fired for buying AWS, but these days, you can certainly get a lot of value (and kudos) for exploring other options. 

Developers and IT teams might hesitate when it comes to moving away from AWS, but AWS comes with risks, too. If you don’t have the resources to manage and maintain your infrastructure, costs can get out of control, for one. As we enter Cloud 3.0 where the landscape is defined by the open, multi-cloud internet, there is an emerging trend that is worth considering: the rise of specialized cloud providers.

Today, I’m sharing how software as a service (SaaS) startups and modern businesses can take advantage of these highly-focused, tailored services, each specializing and excelling in specific areas like cloud storage, content delivery, cloud compute, and more. Building on a specialized stack offers more control, return on investment, and flexibility, while being able to achieve the same performance you expect from hyperscaler infrastructure.

From a cost of goods sold perspective, AWS pricing wasn’t a great fit. From an engineering perspective, we didn’t want a net-new platform. So the fact that we got both with Backblaze—a drop-in API replacement with a much better cost structure—it was just a no-brainer.

—Rory Petty, Co-Founder & CTO, Tribute

The Rise of Specialized Cloud Providers

Specialized providers—including content delivery networks (CDNs) like Fastly, bunny.net, and Cloudflare, as well as cloud compute providers like Vultr—offer services that focus on a particular area of the infrastructure stack. Rather than trying to be everything to everyone, like the hyperscalers of Cloud 2.0, they do one thing and do it really well. Customers get best-of-breed services that allow them to build a tech stack tailored to their needs. 

Use Cases for Specialized Cloud Providers

There are a number of businesses that might benefit from switching from hyperscalers to specialized cloud providers, including:

• Businesses dealing with large amounts of data that need an easy cost-effective way of storing their data. 
• Media streaming applications that require fast and reliable content delivery. 
• SaaS companies looking to optimize their cloud budget without sacrificing performance. 
• Platforms that require robust and affordable server hosting, like in the gaming industry.

In order for businesses to take advantage of the benefits (since most applications rely on more than just one service), these services must work together seamlessly. 

Let’s Take a Closer Look at How Specialized Stacks Can Work For You

If you’re wondering how exactly specialized clouds can “play well with each other,” we ran a whole series of application storage webinars that talk through specific examples and uses cases. I’ll share what’s in it for you below.

1. Low Latency Multi-Region Content Delivery with Fastly and Backblaze

Did you know a 100-millisecond delay in website load time can hurt conversion rates by 7%? In this session, Pat Patterson from Backblaze and Jim Bartos from Fastly discuss the importance of speed and latency in user experience. They highlight how Backblaze’s B2 Cloud Storage and Fastly’s content delivery network work together to deliver content quickly and efficiently across multiple regions. Businesses can ensure that their content is delivered with low latency, reducing delays and optimizing user experience regardless of the user’s location.

2. Scaling Media Delivery Workflows with bunny.net and Backblaze

Delivering content to your end users at scale can be challenging and costly. Users expect exceptional web and mobile experiences with snappy load times and zero buffering. Anything less than an instantaneous response may cause them to bounce. 

In this webinar, Pat Patterson demonstrates how to efficiently scale your content delivery workflows from content ingestion, transcoding, storage, to last-mile acceleration via bunny.net CDN. Pat demonstrates how to build a video hosting platform called “Cat Tube” and shows how to upload a video and play it using HTML5 video element with controls. Watch below and download the demo code to try it yourself.

3. Balancing Cloud Cost and Performance with Fastly and Backblaze

With a global economic slowdown, IT and development teams are looking for ways to slash cloud budgets without compromising performance. E-commerce, SaaS platforms, and streaming applications all rely on high-performant infrastructure, but balancing bandwidth and storage costs can be challenging. In this 45-minute session, we explored how to recession-proof your growing business with key cloud optimization strategies, including ways to leverage Fastly’s CDN to balance bandwidth costs while avoiding performance tradeoffs.

4. Reducing Cloud OpEx Without Sacrificing Performance and Speed

Greg Hamer from Backblaze and DJ Johnson from Vultr explore the benefits of building on best-of-breed, specialized cloud stacks tailored to your business model, rather than being locked into traditional hyperscaler infrastructure. They cover real-world use cases, including:

• How Can Stock Photo broke free from AWS and reduced their cloud bill by 55% while achieving 4x faster generation.
• How Monument Labs launched a new cloud-based photo management service to 25,000+ users.
• How Black.ai processes 1000s of files simultaneously, with a significant reduction of infrastructure costs.

5. Leveling Up a Global Gaming Platform while Slashing Cloud Spend by 85%

James Ross of Nodecraft, an online gaming platform that aims to make gaming online easy, shares how he moved his global game server platform from Amazon S3 to Backblaze B2 for greater flexibility and 85% savings on storage and egress. He discusses the challenges of managing large files over the public internet, which can result in expensive bandwidth costs. By storing game titles on Backblaze B2 and delivering them through Cloudflare’s CDN, they achieve reduced latency since games are cached at the edge, and pay zero egress fees thanks to the Bandwidth Alliance. Nodecraft also benefited from Universal Data Migration, which allows customers to move large amounts of data from any cloud services or on-premises storage to Backblaze’s B2 Cloud Storage, managed by Backblaze and free of charge.

Migrating From a Hyperscaler

Though it may seem daunting to transition from a hyperscaler to a specialized cloud provider, it doesn’t have to be. Many specialized providers offer tools and services to make the transition as smooth as possible. 

• S3-compatible APIs, SDKs, CLI: Interface with storage as you would with Amazon S3—switching can be as easy as dropping in a new storage target.
• Universal Data Migration: Free and fully managed migrations to make switching as seamless as possible.
• Free egress: Move data freely with the Bandwidth Alliance and other partnerships between specialized cloud storage providers.

As the decision maker at your growing SaaS company, it’s worth considering whether a specialized cloud stack could be a better fit for your business. By doing so you could potentially unlock cost savings, improve performance, and gain flexibility to adapt your services to your unique needs. The one-size-fits-all is no longer the only option out there. 

Want to Test It Out Yourself?

Take a proactive approach to cloud cost management: Get 10GB free to test and validate your proof of concept (POC) with Backblaze B2. All it takes is an email to get started.

The post The Power of Specialized Cloud Providers: A Game Changer for SaaS Companies appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

In today’s economic climate, cost cutting is on everyone’s mind, and businesses are doing everything they can to save money. But, it’s equally important that they can’t afford to compromise the integrity of their infrastructure or the quality of the customer experience. As a startup, taking advantage of free cloud credits from cloud providers like Amazon AWS, especially at a time like this, seems enticing. 

Using those credits can make sense, but it takes more planning than you might think to use them in a way that allows you to continue managing cloud costs once the credits run out. 

In this blog post, I’ll walk through common use cases for credit programs, the risks of using credits, and alternatives that help you balance growth and cloud costs.

The Shift to Cloud 3.0

As we see it, there have been three stages of “The Cloud” in its history:

Phase 1: What is the Cloud?

Starting around when Backblaze was founded in 2007, the public cloud was in its infancy. Most people weren’t clear on what cloud computing was or if it was going to take root. Businesses were asking themselves, “What is the cloud and how will it work with my business?”

Phase 2: Cloud = Amazon Web Services

Fast forward to 10 years later, and AWS and “The Cloud” started to become synonymous. Amazon had nearly 50% of market share of public cloud services, more than Microsoft, Google, and IBM combined. “The Cloud” was well-established, and for most folks, the cloud was AWS.

Phase 3: Multi-Cloud

Today, we’re in Phase 3 of the cloud. “The Cloud” of today is defined by the open, multi-cloud internet. Traditional cloud vendors are expensive, complicated, and seek to lock customers into their walled gardens. Customers have come to realize that (see below) and to value the benefits they can get from moving away from a model that demands exclusivity in cloud infrastructure.

In Cloud Phase 3.0, companies are looking to reign in spending, and are increasingly seeking specialized cloud providers offering affordable, best-of-breed services without sacrificing speed and performance. How do you balance that with the draw of free credits? I’ll get into that next, and the two are far from mutually exclusive.

Getting Hooked on Credits: Common Use Cases

So, you have $100k in free cloud credits from AWS. What do you do with them? Well, in our experience, there are a wide range of use cases for credits, including:

• App development and testing: Teams may leverage credits to run an app development proof of concept (PoC) utilizing Amazon EC2, RDS, and S3 for compute, database, and storage needs, for example, but without understanding how these will scale in the longer term, there may be risks involved. Spinning up EC2 instances can quickly lead to burning through your credits and getting hit with an unexpected bill.
• Machine learning (ML): Machine learning models require huge amounts of computing power and storage. Free cloud credits might be a good way to start, but you can expect them to quickly run out if you’re using them for this use case. 
• Data analytics: While free cloud credits may cover storage and computing resources, data transfer costs might still apply. Analyzing large volumes of data or frequently transferring data in and out of the cloud can lead to unexpected expenses.
• Website hosting: Hosting your website with free cloud credits can eliminate the up front infrastructure spend and provide an entry point into the cloud, but remember that when the credits expire, traffic spikes you should be celebrating can crater your bottom line.
• Backup and disaster recovery: Free cloud credits may have restrictions on data retention, limiting the duration for which backups can be stored. This can pose challenges for organizations requiring long-term data retention for compliance or disaster recovery purposes.

All of this is to say: Proper configuration, long-term management and upkeep, and cost optimization all play a role on how you scale on monolith platforms. It is important to note that the risks and benefits mentioned above are general considerations, and specific terms and conditions may vary depending on the cloud service provider and the details of their free credit offerings. It’s crucial to thoroughly review the terms and plan accordingly to maximize the benefits and mitigate the risks associated with free cloud credits for each specific use case. (And, given the complicated pricing structures we mentioned before, that might take some effort.)

The Risks of AWS Credits: Lessons from Founders

If you’re handed $100,000 in credits, it’s crucial to be aware of the risks and implications that come along with it. While it may seem like an exciting opportunity to explore the capabilities of the cloud without immediate financial constraints, there are several factors to consider:

1. The temptation to overspend: With a credit balance at your disposal just waiting to be spent, there is a possibility of underestimating the actual costs of your cloud usage. This can lead to a scenario where you inadvertently exhaust the credits sooner than anticipated, leaving you with unexpected expenses that may strain your budget.
2. The shock of high bills once credits expire: Without proper planning and monitoring of your cloud usage, the transition from “free” to paying for services can result in high bills that catch you off guard. It is essential to closely track your cloud usage throughout the credit period and have a clear understanding of the costs associated with the services you’re utilizing. Or better yet, use those credits for a discrete project to test your PoC or develop your minimum viable product, and plan to build your long-term infrastructure elsewhere.
3. The risk of vendor lock-in: As you build and deploy your infrastructure within a specific cloud provider’s ecosystem, the process of migrating to an alternative provider can seem complex and can definitely be costly (shameless plug: at Backblaze, we’ll cover your migration over 50TB). Vendor lock-in can limit your flexibility, making it challenging to adapt to changing business needs or take advantage of cost-saving opportunities in the future.

The problems are nothing new for founders, as the online conversation bears out.

First, there’s the old surprise bill:

Even with some optimization, AWS cloud spend can still be pretty “obscene” as this user vividly shows:

There’s the founder raising rounds just to pay AWS bills:

Some use the surprise bill as motivation to get paying customers.

Lastly, there’s the comic relief:

Strategies for Balancing Growth and Cloud Costs

Where does that leave you today? Here are some best practices startups and early founders can implement to balance growth and cloud costs:

1. Establishing a cloud cost management plan early on.
2. Monitoring and optimizing cloud usage to avoid wasted resources.
3. Leveraging multiple cloud providers.
4. Moving to a new cloud provider altogether.
5. Setting aside some of your credits for the migration.

1. Establishing a Cloud Cost Management Plan

Put some time into creating a well-thought-out cloud cost management strategy from the beginning. This includes closely monitoring your usage, optimizing resource allocation, and planning for the expiration of credits to ensure a smooth transition. By understanding the risks involved and proactively managing your cloud usage, you can maximize the benefits of the credits while minimizing potential financial setbacks and vendor lock-in concerns.

2. Monitoring and Optimizing Cloud Usage

Monitoring and optimizing cloud usage plays a vital role in avoiding wasted resources and controlling costs. By regularly analyzing usage patterns, organizations can identify opportunities to right-size resources, adopt automation to reduce idle time, and leverage cost-effective pricing options. Effective monitoring and optimization ensure that businesses are only paying for the resources they truly need, maximizing cost efficiency while maintaining the necessary levels of performance and scalability.

3. Leveraging Multiple Cloud Providers

By adopting a multi-cloud strategy, businesses can diversify their cloud infrastructure and services across different providers. This allows them to benefit from each provider’s unique offerings, such as specialized services, geographical coverage, or pricing models. Additionally, it provides a layer of protection against potential service disruptions or price increases from a single provider. Adopting a multi-cloud approach requires careful planning and management to ensure compatibility, data integration, and consistent security measures across multiple platforms. However, it offers the flexibility to choose the best-fit cloud services from different providers, reducing dependency on a single vendor and enabling businesses to optimize costs while harnessing the capabilities of various cloud platforms.

4. Moving to a New Cloud Provider Altogether

If you’re already deeply invested in a major cloud platform, shifting away can seem cumbersome, but there may be long-term benefits that outweigh the short term “pains” (this leads into the shift to Cloud 3.0). The process could involve re-architecting applications, migrating data, and retraining personnel on the new platform. However, factors such as pricing models, performance, scalability, or access to specialized services may win out in the end. It’s worth noting that many specialized providers have taken measures to “ease the pain” and make the transition away from AWS more seamless without overhauling code. For example, at Backblaze, we developed an S3 compatible API so switching providers is as simple as dropping in a new storage target.

5. Setting Aside Credits for the Migration

By setting aside credits for future migration, businesses can ensure they have the necessary resources to transition to a different provider without incurring significant up front expenses like egress fees to transfer large data sets. This strategic allocation of credits allows organizations to explore alternative cloud platforms, evaluate their pricing models, and assess the cost-effectiveness of migrating their infrastructure and services without worrying about being able to afford the migration.

Welcome to Cloud 3.0: Alternatives to AWS

In 2022, David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Basecamp and Hey, announced that he was moving Hey’s infrastructure from AWS to on-premises. Hansson cited the high cost of AWS as one of the reasons for the move. His estimate? “We stand to save $7m over five years from our cloud exit,” he said.  

Going back to on-premises solutions is certainly one answer to the problem of AWS bills. In fact, when we started designing Backblaze’s Personal Backup solution, we were faced with the same problem. Hosting data storage for our computer backup product on AWS was a non-starter—it was going to be too expensive, and our business wouldn’t be able to deliver a reasonable consumer price point and be solvent. So, we didn’t just invest in on-premises resources: We built our own Storage Pods, the first evolution of the Backblaze Storage Cloud. 

But, moving back to on-premises solutions isn’t the only answer—it’s just the only answer if it’s 2007 and your two options are AWS and on-premises solutions. The cloud environment as it exists today has better choices. We’ve now grown that collection of Storage Pods into the Backblaze B2 Storage Cloud, which delivers performant, interoperable storage at one-fifth the cost of AWS. And, we offer free egress to our content delivery network (CDN) and compute partners. Backblaze may provide an even more cost-effective solution for mid-sized SaaS startups looking to save on cloud costs while maintaining speed and performance.

As we transition to Cloud 3.0 in 2023 and beyond, companies are expected to undergo a shift, reevaluating their cloud spending to ensure long-term sustainability and directing saved funds into other critical areas of their businesses. The age of limited choices is over. The age of customizable cloud integration is here. 

So, shout out to David Heinemeier Hansson: We’d love to chat about your storage bills some time.

FAQs About Cloud Spend

If you’re thinking about moving to Backblaze B2 after taking AWS credits, but you’re not sure if it’s right for you, we’ve put together some frequently asked questions that folks have shared with us before their migrations:

The post The Free Credit Trap: Building SaaS Infrastructure for Long-Term Sustainability appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

If your business is looking into cyber insurance to protect your bottom line against security incidents, you’re in good company. The global market for cybersecurity insurance is projected to grow from 11.9 billion in 2022 to 29.2 billion by 2027.

But you don’t want to go into buying cyber security insurance blind. We put together this cyber insurance readiness checklist to help you strengthen your cyber resilience stance in order to better secure a policy and possibly a lower premium. (And even if you decide not to pursue cyber insurance, simply following some of these best practices will help you secure your company’s data.)

What is Cyber Insurance?

Cyber insurance is a specialty insurance product that is useful for any size business, but especially those dealing with large amounts of data. Before you buy cyber insurance, it helps to understand some fundamentals. Check out our post on cyber insurance basics to get up to speed.

Once you understand the basic choices available to you when securing a policy, or if you’re already familiar with how cyber insurance works, read on for the checklist.

Cyber Insurance Readiness Checklist

Cybersecurity insurance providers use their questionnaire and assessment period to understand how well-situated your business is to detect, limit, or prevent a cyber attack. They have requirements, and you want to meet those specific criteria to be covered at the most reasonable cost.

Your business is more likely to receive a lower premium if your security infrastructure is sound and you have disaster recovery processes and procedures in place. Though each provider has their own requirements, use the checklist below to familiarize yourself with the kinds of criteria a cyber insurance provider might look for. Any given provider may not ask about or require all these precautions; these are examples of common criteria. Note: Checking these off means your cyber resilience score is attractive to providers, though not a guarantee of coverage or a lower premium.

General Business Security

Cloud Storage Security

By adding features like SSE, 2FA, and object lock to your backup security, insurance companies know you take data security seriously.

Cyber insurance provides the peace of mind that, when your company is faced with a digital incident, you will have access to resources with which to recover. And there is no question that by increasing your cybersecurity resilience, you’re more likely to find an insurer with the best coverage at the right price.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to ensure you have a robust backup strategy and security protocols in place. Even if you hope to never have to access your backups (because that might mean a security breach), it’s always smart to consider how fast you can restore your data should you need to, keeping in mind that hot storage is going to give you a faster recovery time objective (RTO) without any delays like those seen with cold storage like Amazon Glacier. And, with Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage offering hot cloud storage at cold storage prices, you can afford to store all your data for as long as you need—at one-fifth the price of AWS.

The post A Cyber Insurance Checklist: Learn How to Lower Risk to Better Secure Coverage appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Between tech layoffs and recession fears, economic uncertainty is at a high. If you’re battening down the hatches for whatever comes next, you might be taking a closer look at your cloud spend. Even before the bear market, 59% of cloud decision makers named “optimizing existing use of cloud (cost savings)” as their top cloud initiative of 2022 according to the Flexera State of the Cloud report.

Cloud storage is one piece of your cloud infrastructure puzzle, but it’s one where some simple considerations can save you anywhere from 25% up to 80%. As such, understanding cloud storage pricing is critical when you are comparing different solutions. When you understand pricing, you can better decide which provider is right for your organization.

In this post, we won’t look at 1:1 comparisons of cloud storage pricing, but you can check out a cloud storage pricing calculator here. Instead, you will learn tips to help you make a good cloud storage decision for your organization.

Evaluating Cloud Storage Providers? Gather These Facts

Looking at the pricing options of different cloud providers only makes sense when you know your needs. Use the following considerations to clarify your storage needs to approach a cloud decision thoughtfully:

1. How do you plan to use cloud storage?
2. How much does cloud storage cost?
3. What features are offered?

1. How Do You Plan to Use Cloud Storage?

Some popular use cases for cloud storage include:

• Backup and archive.
• Origin storage.
• Migrating away from LTO/tape.
• Managing a media workflow.

Backup and Archive

Maintaining data backups helps make your company more resilient. You can more easily recover from a disaster and keep serving customers. The cloud provides a reliable, off-site place to keep backups of your company workstations, servers, NAS devices, and Kubernetes environments.

Origin Storage

If you run a website, video streaming service, or online gaming community, you can use the cloud to serve as your origin store where you keep content to be served out to your users.

Migrating Away From LTO/Tape

Managing a tape library can be time-consuming and comes with high CapEx spending. With inflation, replacing tapes costs more, shipping tapes off-site costs more, and physical storage space costs more. The cloud provides an affordable alternative to storing data on tape where you pass the decreased margins off to a cloud provider—they have to worry about provisioning enough physical storage devices and space while you pay as you go.

Managing Media Workflow

Your department or organization may need to work with large media files to create movies or digital videos. Cloud storage provides an alternative to provisioning huge on-premises servers to handle large files.

2. How Much Does Cloud Storage Cost?

Cloud storage costs are calculated in a variety of different ways. Before considering any specific vendors, knowing the most common options, variables, and fees is helpful, including:

• Flat or single-tier pricing vs. tiered pricing.
• Hot vs. cold storage.
• Storage location.
• Minimum retention periods.
• Egress fees.

Flat or Single-tier Pricing vs. Tiered Pricing

A flat or single-tier pricing approach charges the user based on the storage volume, and cost is typically expressed per gigabyte stored. There is only one tier, making budgeting and planning for cloud expenses simple.

On the other hand, some cloud storage services use a tiered storage pricing model. For example, a provider may have a small business pricing tier and an enterprise tier. Note that different pricing tiers may include different services and features. Today, your business might use an entry-level pricing tier but need to move to a higher-priced tier as you produce more data.

Hot vs. Cold Storage

Hot storage is helpful for data that needs to be accessible immediately (e.g., last month’s customer records). By contrast, cold storage is helpful for data that does not need to be accessed quickly (e.g., tax records from five years ago). For more insight on hot vs. cold storage, check out our post: “What’s the Diff: Hot and Cold Data Storage.” Generally speaking, cold storage is the cheapest, but that low price comes at the cost of speed. For data that needs to be accessed frequently or even for data where you’re not sure how often you need access, hot storage is better.

Storage Location

Some organizations need their cloud storage to be located in the same country or region due to regulations or just preference. But some storage vendors charge different prices to store data in different regions. Keeping data in a specific location may impact cloud storage prices.

Minimum Retention Periods

Most folks think of “retention” as a good thing, but some storage vendors enforce minimum retention periods that essentially impose penalties for deleting your data. Some vendors enforce minimum retention periods of 30, 60, or even 90 days. Deleting your data could cost you a lot, especially if you have a backup approach where you retire older backups before the retention period ends.

Egress Fees

Cloud companies charge egress fees when customers want to move their data out of the provider’s platform. These fees can be egregiously high, making it expensive for customers to use multi-cloud infrastructures and therefore locking customers into their services.

3. What Additional Features Are Offered?

While price is likely one of your biggest considerations, choosing a cloud storage provider solely based on price can lead to disappointment. There are specific cloud storage features that can make a big difference in your productivity, security, and convenience. Keep these features and capabilities in mind when comparing different cloud storage solutions.

Security Features

You may be placing highly sensitive data like financial records and customer service data in the cloud, so features like server-side encryption could be important. In addition, you might look for a provider that offers Object Lock so you can protect data using a Write Once, Read Many (WORM) model.

Data Speed

Find out how quickly the cloud storage provider can provide data regarding upload and download speed. Keep in mind that the speed of your internet connection also impacts how fast you can access data. Data speed is critically important in several industries, including media and live streaming.

Customer Support

If your company has a data storage problem outside of regular business hours, customer support becomes critically important. What level of support can you expect from the provider? Do they offer expanded support tiers?

Partner Integrations

Partner integrations make it easier to manage your data. Check if the cloud storage provider has integrations with services you already use.

The Next Step in Choosing Cloud Storage

Understanding cloud storage pricing requires a holistic view. First, you need to understand your organization’s data needs. Second, it is wise to understand the typical cloud storage pricing models commonly used in the industry. Finally, cloud storage pricing needs to be understood in the context of features like security, integrations, and customer service. Once you consider these steps, you can approach a decision to switch cloud providers or optimize your cloud spend more rigorously and methodically.

FAQs About Cloud Storage Pricing

The post Cloud Storage Pricing: What You Need to Know appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

As an IT leader or business owner, establishing a solid, working backup strategy is one of the most important tasks on your plate. Server backups are an essential part of a good security and disaster recovery stance. One decision you’re faced with as part of setting up that strategy is where and how you’ll store server backups: on-premises, in the cloud, or in some mix of the two.

As the cloud has become more secure, affordable, and accessible, more organizations are using a hybrid cloud strategy for their cloud computing needs, and server backups are particularly well suited to this strategy. It allows you to maintain existing on-premises infrastructure while taking advantage of the scalability, affordability, and geographic separation offered by the cloud.

If you’re confused about how to set up a hybrid cloud strategy for backups, you’re not alone. There are as many ways to approach it as there are companies backing up to the cloud. Today, we’re discussing different server backup approaches to help you architect a hybrid server backup strategy that fits your business.

Server Backup Destinations

Learning about different backup destinations can help administrators craft better backup policies and procedures to ensure the safety of your data for the long term. When structuring your server backup strategy, you essentially have three choices for where to store data: on-premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid environment that uses both. First, though, let’s explain what a hybrid environment truly is.

Here are some examples of different server backup destinations according to where your data is located:

• Local backup destinations.
• Cloud-only backups.
• Hybrid cloud backups.

Local Backup Destinations

On-premises backup, also known as a local backup, is the process of backing up your system, applications, and other data to a local device. Tape and network-attached storage (NAS) are examples of common local backup solutions.

• Tape: With tape backup, data is copied from its primary storage location to a tape cartridge using a tape drive. Tape creates a physical air gap, meaning there’s a literal gap of air between the data on the tape and the network—they are not connected in any way. This makes tape a highly secure option, but it comes at a cost. Tape requires physical storage space some businesses may not have. Tape maintenance and management can be very time consuming. And tapes can degrade, resulting in data loss.
• NAS: NAS is a type of storage device that is connected to a network to allow data processing and storage through a secure, centralized location. With NAS, authorized users can access stored data from anywhere with a browser and a LAN connection. NAS is flexible, relatively easy to scale, and cost-effective.

Cloud-only Backups

Cloud-only backup strategies are becoming more commonplace as startups take a cloud-native approach and existing companies undergo digital transformations. A cloud-only backup strategy involves eliminating local, on-premises backups and sending files and databases to the cloud vendor for storage. It’s still a great idea to keep a local copy of your backup so you comply with a 3-2-1 backup strategy (more on that below). You could also utilize multiple cloud vendors or multiple regions with the same vendor to ensure redundancy. In the event of an outage, your data is stored safely in a separate cloud or a different cloud region and can easily be restored.

With services like Cloud Replication, companies can easily achieve a solid cloud-only server backup solution within the same cloud vendor’s infrastructure. It’s also possible to orchestrate redundancy between two different cloud vendors in a multi-cloud strategy.

Hybrid Cloud Backups

When you hear the term “hybrid” when it comes to servers, you might initially think about a combination of on-premises and cloud data. That’s typically what people think of when they imagine a hybrid cloud, but as we mentioned earlier, a hybrid cloud is a combination of a public cloud and a private cloud. Today, private clouds can live off-premises, but for our purposes, we’ll consider private clouds as being on-premises. A hybrid server backup strategy is an easy way to accomplish a 3-2-1 backup strategy, generally considered the gold standard when it comes to backups.

Choosing a Backup Strategy

Choosing a backup strategy that is right for you involves carefully evaluating your existing systems and your future goals. Can you get there with your current backup strategy? What if a ransomware or distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack affected your organization tomorrow? Decide what gaps need to be filled and take into consideration a few more crucial points:

• Evaluate your vulnerabilities. Is your location susceptible to a local data disaster? How often do you think you might need to access your backups? How quickly would you need them?
• Price. Various backup strategies will incur costs for hardware, service, expansions, and more. Carefully evaluate your organization’s finances to decide on a budget. And keep in mind that monthly fees and service charges may go up over time as you add more storage or use enhanced backup tools.
• Storage capacity. How much storage capacity do you have on-site? How much data does your business generate over a given period of time? Do you have IT personnel to manage on-premises systems?
• Access to hardware. Provisioning a private cloud on-premises involves purchasing hardware. Increasing supply chain issues can slow down factories, so be mindful of shortages and increased delivery times.
• Scalability. As your organization grows, it’s likely that your data backup needs will grow, too. If you’re projecting growth, choose a data backup strategy that can keep up with rapidly expanding backup needs.

Backup Strategy Pros and Cons

Local Backup Strategy

• Pros: A major benefit to using a local backup strategy is that organizations have fast access to data backups in case of emergencies. Backing up to NAS can also be faster locally depending on the size of your data set.
• Cons: Maintaining on-premises hardware can be costly, but more important, your data is at a higher risk of loss from local disasters like floods, fires, or theft.

Cloud Backup Strategy

• Pros: With a cloud-only backup strategy, there is no need for on-site hardware, and backup and recovery can be initiated from any location. Cloud resources are inherently scalable, so the stress of budgeting for and provisioning hardware is gone.
• Cons: A cloud-only strategy is susceptible to outages if your data is consolidated with one vendor, however this risk can be mitigated by diversifying vendors and regions within the same vendor. Similarly, if your network goes down, then you won’t have access to your data.

Hybrid Cloud Backup Strategy

• Pros: Hybrid cloud server backup strategies combine the best features of public and private clouds: You have fast access to your data locally while protecting your data from disaster by adding an off-site location to your backup strategy.
• Cons: Setting up and running a private cloud server can be very costly. Businesses also need to plan their backup strategy a bit more thoughtfully because they must decide what to keep in a public cloud versus a private cloud or on local storage.

Hybrid Server Backup Considerations

Once you’ve decided a hybrid server backup strategy is right for you, there are many ways you can structure it. Here are just a few examples:

• Keep backups of active working files on-premises and move all archives to the cloud.
• Choose a cutover date if your business is ready to move mostly to the cloud going forward. All backups and archives prior to the cutover date could remain on-premises and everything after the cutover date gets stored in cloud storage.
• Store all incremental backups in cloud storage and keep all full backups and archives stored locally. Or, following the Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) approach, put the father and son backups in the cloud and grandfather backups in local storage. (Or vice versa.)

As you’re structuring your server backup strategy, consider any GDPR, HIPAA, or cybersecurity requirements. Does it call for off-site, air-gapped backups? If so, you may want to move that data (like customer or patient records) to the cloud and keep other, non-regulated data local. Some industries, particularly government and heavily regulated industries, may require you to keep some data in a private cloud.

Ready to get started? Back up your server using our joint solution with MSP360 or get started with Veeam or any one of our many other integrations.

The post Server Backup 101: On-premises vs. Cloud-only vs. Hybrid Backup Strategies appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

If you are responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of a medical office’s IT systems, including data backups, your job has never been more important. Since offices started shifting to electronic health records, managing IT systems for medical practices has presented a unique set of challenges—the amount of data you have to manage has grown, data is subject to HIPAA regulations, and recently, your data became even more of a target for cybercriminals as they zeroed in on health facilities over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, 560 healthcare facilities were affected by ransomware according to a report by Emsisoft, a cybersecurity firm. Medical offices manage high volumes of personally identifiable information like social security numbers and patient data, and, as IT managers of medical offices can probably attest, they may not have the resources to afford dedicated cybersecurity staff, making them attractive to cybercriminals looking for vulnerable targets.

But, HIPAA requirements and cybersecurity aren’t the only reason to back up your medical practice’s data—your data is one of your most important assets and making sure it’s safe and accessible keeps your practice running smoothly.

Whether you outsource some of your IT tasks, like backups, to a managed service provider (MSP) or you manage everything in house with network attached storage (NAS) or other hardware, understanding backup best practices and the different cloud options available can help you make the best decisions to protect your important data.

In this guide for backing up medical offices, learn more about:

• Records retention.
• Backup strategies.
• Backing up NAS devices.
• Working with MSPs.

How Long Should a Medical Office Keep Records?

One of the first pieces of the puzzle to understand when planning your data backup strategy is how long you’ll need to keep medical records and the regulatory requirements that govern retention.

Unfortunately, there’s no standard timeline, and there are a lot of factors to consider. Each state has different rules and statute limitations. Some federal regulations apply as well. And different patients will fall under different guidelines—namely, you’ll probably want to retain records longer for minors. The easiest answer is to retain records for as long as the strictest rule applies.

Start to develop your retention policy by checking the state and federal regulations that may apply to your practice. The American Health Information Management Association provides a comprehensive guide on all of the state, federal, accreditation agency, and other regulations that apply to retention requirements here.

With all of these moving parts and an ever-growing data set, managing data storage for medical offices within budget can be a notorious balancing act. But, today, affordable cloud storage is making it easier for medical practices to establish much simpler and more robust retention strategies rather than fine-tuning and calibrating their strategies to manage data with limited on-premises resources.

What Is the HIPAA Regulation for Storage of Medical Records?

A common misconception is that HIPAA stipulates retention requirements for medical records. HIPAA does not govern how long medical records must be retained, but it does govern how long HIPAA-related documentation must be retained. Any HIPAA-related documentation, including things like policies, procedures, authorization forms, etc., must be retained for six years according to guidance in HIPAA policy § 164.316(b)(2)(i) on time limits. Some states may have longer or shorter retention periods. If your state’s period is shorter, HIPAA supersedes state regulations.

How Long Does a Medical Office Need to Keep Insurance EOBs?

Explanations of benefits, or EOBs, are documents from insurance providers that explain the amounts insurance providers will pay for services. Retention periods for these documents vary by state as well. Additionally, insurance providers may stipulate how long records must be kept.

The 3-2-1 Backup Strategy

If understanding how long you need to keep records is the first step in structuring your medical practice’s backup plan, the second is understanding what a good backup strategy looks like.

The 3-2-1 backup strategy is a tried and true method for protecting data. It means keeping at least three copies of your data on two different media (i.e. devices) with at least one off-site, generally in the cloud. For a medical office, we can use a simple X-ray file as an example. That file should live on two different devices on-premises, let’s say a machine reserved for storing X-rays which backs up to a NAS device. That’s two copies. If you then back up your NAS device to cloud storage, that’s your third, off-site copy.

The Benefits of Backing Up Your Medical Office

You might wonder why you need three copies. There are some compelling benefits that make a strong case for using a 3-2-1 strategy rather than hoping for the best with fewer copies of your data.

1. Fast access to files. When you accidentally delete a file, you can restore it quickly from either your on-site or cloud backup. And if you need a file while you’re away from your desk, you can simply log in to your cloud backup and access it immediately.
2. Quick recoveries from computer crashes. Keeping one copy on-site means you can quickly restore files if one of your machines crashes. You can start up another computer and get immediate access, or you can restore all of the files to a replacement computer.
3. Reliable recoveries from damage and disaster. Floods, fires, and other disasters do happen. With a copy off-site, your data is one less thing you have to worry about in that unfortunate event. You can access your files remotely if needed and restore them completely when you are able.
4. Safe recoveries from ransomware attacks. Keeping an off-site copy in the cloud, especially if you take advantage of features like Object Lock, can better prepare you to recover from a ransomware attack.
5. Compliance with regulatory requirements. As mentioned above, medical practices are subject to retention regulations. Using a cloud backup solution that offers AES encryption helps your practice achieve compliance.

What Are the HIPAA Regulations for Backups and Disaster Recovery?

The HIPAA Security Final Rule, which went into full effect in 2005, and the HITECH Act of 2009 outline specific requirements for how medical practices protect the privacy and security of patient information. The HIPAA text that applies to backups and disaster recovery can be found here and the HITECH Act can be found here. There are three main requirements:

1. Medical offices must have a data backup plan. The rule states that you must “maintain retrievable exact copies of electronic protected health information.”
2. Data at rest must be encrypted.
3. Medical offices must have a disaster recovery plan where data can be restored in a loss event.

You also need to document these procedures and test them regularly. Cloud backups help you achieve compliance with HIPAA and HITECH by keeping a copy of your data off-site while still retrievable.

Using NAS for Medical Offices

Many medical offices rely on NAS to manage their data on-site. NAS is essentially a computer connected to a network that provides file-based data storage services to other devices on the network. The primary strength of NAS is how simple it is to set up and deploy.

NAS is frequently the next step up for a small practice that is using external hard drives or direct attached storage, which can be especially vulnerable to drive failure. Moving up to NAS offers medical offices and independent practitioners a number of benefits, including:

• The ability to share files locally and remotely.
• 24/7 file availability.
• Data redundancy.
• Integrations with cloud storage that provides a location for necessary, automatic data backups.

If you’re interested in upgrading to NAS, check out our Complete NAS Guide for advice on provisioning the right NAS for your needs and getting the most out of it after you buy it.

Hybrid Cloud Strategy for Medical Practices: NAS + Cloud Storage

Most NAS devices come with cloud storage integrations that enable businesses to adopt a hybrid cloud strategy for their data. A hybrid cloud strategy uses a private cloud and public cloud in combination. To expand on that a bit, a hybrid cloud refers to a cloud environment made up of a mixture of typically on-premises, private cloud resources combined with third-party public cloud resources that use some kind of orchestration between them. In this case, your NAS device serves as the on-premises private cloud, as it’s dedicated to only you or your practice, and then you connect it to the public cloud.

Some cloud providers are already integrated with NAS systems. (Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage is integrated with NAS systems from Synology and QNAP, for example.) Check if your preferred NAS system is already integrated with a cloud storage provider to ensure setting up cloud backup, storage, and sync is as easy as possible.

Your NAS should come with a built-in backup manager, like Hyper Backup from Synology or Hybrid Backup Sync from QNAP. Once you download and install the appropriate backup manager app, you can configure it to send backups to your preferred cloud provider. You can also fine-tune the behavior of the backup jobs, including what gets backed up and how often.
Now, you can send backups to the cloud as a third, off-site backup and use your cloud instance to access files anywhere in the world with an internet connection.

Using an MSP for Medical Practices

Many medical practices choose to outsource some or all IT services to an MSP. Making the decision of whether or not to hire an MSP will depend on your individual circumstances and comfort level. Either way, coming to the conversation with an understanding of your backup needs and the cloud backup landscape can help.

When seeking out an MSP, make sure to ask about the cloud provider they’re using and how they charge for storage and data transfer. And if you’re not using an MSP, compare costs from different cloud providers to make sure you’re getting the most for your investment in backing up your data.

Cloud Storage and Your Medical Practice

Whether you’re managing your data infrastructure in house with NAS or other hardware, or you’re planning to outsource your IT needs to an MSP, cloud storage should be part of your backup strategy. To recap, having a third copy of your data off-site in the cloud gives you a number of benefits, including:

• Fast access to your files.
• Quick recoveries from computer crashes.
• Reliable recoveries from natural disasters and theft.
• Protection from ransomware.
• Compliance with HIPAA requirements and other federal and state regulations.

Have questions about choosing a cloud storage provider to back up your medical practice? Let us know in the comments. Ready to get started? Click here to get your first 10GB free with Backblaze B2.

The post Backup Solutions for Medical Offices appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

No matter what business you’re in, you’re in the data business. Your files are the backbone of your entire operation and losing access to them would be a disaster. As such, it’s perfectly understandable if you’re a little protective of these all-important 1s and 0s. As you begin your search for a data storage solution, understanding some cloud basics can help you make the best decision, and one option that may cross your desk is the private cloud.

What Is the Private Cloud?

A private cloud is essentially storage dedicated solely to your organization, but accessible from anywhere. While you can outsource the physical infrastructure of this private cloud to a data center, you do have the option to keep it on-premises. It is a costlier solution than typical public cloud storage, but the trade-off is a higher level of security and control over your data.

Public and Private Clouds: By the Numbers

In 2020, spending on cloud services grew significantly: Public cloud spending reached $14 billion, and private cloud spending reached $5 billion, according to an IDC study. IDC also found that “on-premises private clouds” make up nearly two-thirds (i.e., 64%) of private cloud spending.

According to the Flexera 2021 State of the Cloud Report, 97% of respondents used a public cloud and 80% of respondents used a private cloud. As you can see, there is plenty of overlap. Using a public cloud versus a private cloud is not an either/or decision—78% of respondents use both public and private clouds in a hybrid cloud solution.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Private Clouds

Both the private cloud and the public cloud have their advantages. Benefits of the public cloud include low cost and a higher adoption rate than the private cloud. Therefore, a public cloud can be cheaper to run and it can be easier to find employees who know how to use the public cloud. The high adoption rate also means it is easier to find third-party consultants and experts to provide help when you need it. On the other hand, a private cloud offers advantages such as faster access to data when using on-premises infrastructure and more control over security.

Private Cloud: Use Cases

To better understand how private cloud services can be beneficial, let’s take a closer look at use cases. There are a few reasons organizations are investing time and resources into private cloud deployments:

• Regulatory compliance. Some industries face high demand for security. For example, financial services and health care organizations frequently handle highly sensitive data. As a result, these organizations may find that the greater security safeguards available through a private cloud may be a good fit. Further, Gartner points out that the U.S. government is starting to increase its adoption of private cloud services. If your organization operates in a highly regulated industry with significant IT security or privacy protection requirements, using a private cloud may make sense. Finally, government contractors may be expected to use the private cloud to give their government clients extra peace of mind regarding security.
• Meeting high-performance requirements. In some situations, a private cloud may provide access to faster IT services. For instance, an on-premises private cloud may serve data to local users much faster than a private cloud located thousands of miles away. A large organization that needs to work with large volumes of data like video files and big data analytics may find private cloud services a good fit. If a company sees a competitive opportunity in speed (e.g., high-frequency trading in financial services), then a private cloud could be an attractive option.
• Specific hardware requirements. In a public cloud environment, the end user generally has limited input regarding specific hardware. By contrast, a company willing to pay for a private cloud service will have more control over specific hardware investments.

Public vs. Private: Why Not Both?

Using both private and public clouds simultaneously is called a hybrid cloud solution, and it may be the best way to balance your security needs against your budget constraints to optimize your storage infrastructure. You can use an on-premises private cloud for sensitive files or larger files that will be accessed on a daily basis, while maintaining public cloud storage space for archives or files that need to be accessed remotely by outside vendors or clients. The reduced cost of public cloud storage gives you greater flexibility in tweaking your private vs. public cloud needs to fit your budget.

Managing a Private Cloud Effectively

Using private cloud data storage services has the potential to offer greater security. If your cloud portfolio includes the private cloud, use the following tips to get the most from those services.

• Manage the scalability limitations of the private cloud. In contrast to a public cloud service, you may find it more difficult or time-consuming to scale up and scale down private cloud services. This challenge can be mitigated in a few ways. For instance, you could pursue a hybrid cloud approach using the private cloud for smaller amounts of highly sensitive data and put the bulk of your corporate data in a public cloud.
• Enhance your cost management process. A private cloud service comes with higher up-front costs and maintenance costs. And, in a public cloud, your costs can vary based on the amount of storage you’re using at any given time. With a private cloud, once you’ve made that capital expenditure, whether on-premises or off, the capacity is already paid for. However, it requires very accurate assessments of future needs to predict any further spending on capacity. If you run out of space, you’re facing another capital investment.
• Managing maintenance risk. Compared to a public cloud deployment, private cloud storage can be relatively complex to manage. If upkeep slips, you may start to suffer increasing security risks and lost performance.
• Challenge customization requests. The ability to customize a private cloud is a double-edged sword. The flexibility is attractive for departments with unusual requirements. On the other hand, each private cloud customization request may involve additional fees and security complexities. Therefore, it may be wise to challenge requests for cloud customization and see if business users can achieve their goals with minimal customization.

Are You Using a Private Cloud?

We’re all in the data business, but nobody knows your business like you. Ultimately, the decision to balance data security against financial concerns will come down to your individual needs and budgetary realities. But for those files that require an extra layer of security, whether it’s for regulatory or operational reasons, a private cloud solution gives you control over your data that is worth the added expense.

Are you using a public cloud, a private cloud, or both? Let us know in the comments.

The post What Is Private Cloud Storage? appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

By any metric, the demands on media workflows are growing at an unprecedented rate. A Coughlin Associates Report of media and entertainment professionals predicts that overall cloud storage capacity for media and entertainment is expected to grow over 13.8 times between 2020 and 2026 (10.1EB to 140EB). It also predicts that, by the next decade, total video captured for a high-end digital production could be hundreds of petabytes, approaching one exabyte.

Businesses in the media and entertainment industry—from creative teams to production houses to agencies—must manage larger and larger stores of data and streamline production workflows that interact with those stores of data. Optimizing data-heavy workflows provides you with time and cost savings you can reinvest to prioritize the creative work that drives your business.

In today’s post, we’ll examine the trends shaping the media storage landscape, walk through each step of the media workflow, and provide strategies and tactics for reducing friction at each step along the way. Read on to learn how to modernize your media workflow to meet today’s data-heavy demands.

Media Technology Trends and Impacts on Media Workflows

Technology is driving changes in media workflows. The media landscape of today looks very different than it did even a few short years ago. If you’re responsible for managing data and workflows for a creative team, understanding the broad trends in the media landscape can help you prepare to optimize your workflows and future-proof your data infrastructure. Here are a few key trends we see driving change across the media storage landscape.

Trend 1: Increased Demand for VR and Higher Resolution 4K and 8K Video Is Driving Workflow Modernization

While VR has been somewhat slow to build steam, demand for VR experiences has grown as the technology evolved. The industry as a whole is growing at a fast pace, with the global VR market size projected to increase from less than $5 billion in 2021 to more than $12 billion by 2024. Today, demands for stereoscopic VR, and VR in general, have increased storage requirements as data sets grow exponentially. Similarly, higher resolution demands more from media workflows, including more storage space, greater standards for compression, and higher performance hardware. All of these files also need to be constantly available and secure. As such, media workflows increasingly value scalable storage, as having to wait for additional storage may cause delays in project momentum/delivery.

Trend 2: Archiving and Content Preservation Needs Are Driving Storage Growth

While the need to digitally convert data from traditional film and tape has slowed, the enormous demand for digital storage for archived content continues to grow. According to the Coughlin Report, more than 174 exabytes of new digital storage will be used for archiving and content conversion and preservation by 2024.

Just as your storage needs for active projects continues to grow as file sizes continue to expand, expect to invest in storage for archival purposes as production continues apace. Furthermore, if you have content conversion or preservation needs, plan for storage needs to house digital copies. The plus side of this surge in archival and preservation demand is that the storage market will continue to be competitive, giving you plenty of choices at competitive rates.

Trend 3: Cloud Adoption Is Playing an Important Role in Enabling Collaboration Across Teams and Geographies

A study by Mesa of nearly 700 decision-makers and managers from media and entertainment companies found that they expect that 50% of their workforce will continue to work remotely. Accessing resources remotely used to be a challenge mired by latency issues, restrictions on file size, and subpar collaboration tools, but cloud adoption has eased these issues and will continue to do so as companies increasingly embrace long-term remote collaboration.

As you think about future-proofing your architecture, one factor to consider is cost, but also designing an architecture that enables your existing workflows to function remotely. A cloud storage provider with predictable pricing can address cost considerations and make cloud adoption even more of a no-brainer. And media workflows can adopt cloud-native solutions or integrate existing on-premises infrastructure with the cloud without additional hardware purchasing and maintenance. The result is that time and money that would have been spent on hardware can be reinvested into adopting new technology, meeting customers’ needs, and differentiating from competitors.

Steps in the Modern Media Workflow

With an understanding of these overarching trends, media and entertainment professionals can evaluate and analyze their workflow to meet future demands. To illustrate that, we’ll walk through an example cloud storage setup within a media workflow, including:

1. Ingest to Local Storage.
2. Video Editing Software.
3. Media Asset Managers.
4. Archive.
5. Backup.
6. Transcoding Software.
7. Content Delivery.
8. Cloud Storage.

Ingest to Local Storage

Creatives doing work in progress need high performance, local access storage such as NAS, SANs, etc. These are often backed up to cloud storage to have an off-site version of the current projects. Some examples include Synology and QNAP NAS devices as well as the OWC Jellyfish system. With Synology, you can use their Cloud Sync application to sync your files directly to your cloud bucket. Synology also offers many built-in integrations to various cloud providers. For QNAP, you can use QNAP Hybrid Backup Sync to archive or back up your content to your cloud account. OWC Jellyfish is optimized for video production workflows, and the Jellyfish lineup is embraced by video production teams for on-prem storage.

Video Editing Software

Video editing software is used to edit, modify, generate, or manipulate a video or movie file. Backblaze has a number of tools we support depending on your workflow. Adobe Premiere Pro and Avid Media Composer are two examples of film and video editing software. They are used to create videos, television shows, films, and commercials.

Media Asset Managers

A media asset manager, or MAM, is software used to add metadata, manage content, store media in a hybrid cloud, and share media. Examples of MAMs include iconik, eMAM, EditShare, and Archiware. You can store your media files directly to the cloud from these and other media asset managers, enabling monetization and quicker content delivery of older content.

Archive

An archive often consists of completed projects and infrequently-used assets that are stored away to keep primary production storage capacities under control. Examples of archive tools include LTO tape, external hard drives, servers, and cloud providers.

Backup

A backup is often used with new projects where raw media files are ingested into their systems and then backed up in case of accidental deletion so that they can be easily restored. Examples include LTO tape, external hard drives, servers, and cloud providers.

Transcoding Software

Transcoding software converts encoded digital files into an alternative digital format so that it can be viewed on the widest possible range of devices.

Content Delivery

Content delivery networks (CDNs) enable easy distribution of your content to customers. Examples include Fastly and Cloudflare. CDNs store content on edge servers closer to end users, speeding performance and reducing latency.

Cloud Storage

Cloud storage is integrated with all of the above tools, making it easy to store high resolution, native files for backup, active archives, primary storage, and origin stores. The media workflow tools have easy access to the stored content in the cloud via their user interface. Storing content in the cloud allows teams to easily collaborate, share, reuse, and distribute content. Cloud storage is also emerging as the storage of choice for workflows that use cloud-based MAMs.

The Benefits of Using a Hybrid Cloud Model for Media Workflows

Because media teams need both fast access and scalable storage, many adopt a hybrid cloud storage strategy. A hybrid cloud strategy combines a private cloud with a public cloud. For most media teams, the private cloud is typically hosted on on-premises infrastructure, but can be hosted by a third party. The key difference between a private and public cloud is that the infrastructure, hardware, and software for a private cloud are maintained on a private network used exclusively by your business or organization.

In a hybrid cloud workflow, media teams have fast, on-premises storage for active projects combined with the scalability of a public cloud to accommodate the large amounts of data media teams generate. Looking specifically at the cloud storage functions above, it is important to keep your local storage lean and mean so that it is fast and operating at peak performance for your creative team. This achieves two things. First, you don’t have to invest more in local storage which can be expensive and time consuming to maintain. And second, you can offload older projects to the cloud while maintaining easy accessibility.

According to a survey of IT decision makers who adopted a hybrid cloud approach: 26% of them said faster innovation was the most important benefit their business gained. 25% said it allowed them to have faster responses to their customers. 22% said it provided their business with better collaboration. Benefits of a hybrid cloud approach for media teams include:

1. Affordability: Cloud storage can be lower cost versus expanding your own physical infrastructure.
2. Accessibility: A hybrid cloud provides increased collaboration for a remote workforce.
3. Scalability: Cloud scalability provides ease and control with scaling up or down.
4. Innovation: Media teams have an increased ability to quickly test and launch new products or projects, when not bogged down by physical infrastructure.
5. Data Protection & Security: Media teams benefit from reduced downtime and can bounce back quicker from events, failures, or disasters.
6. Flexibility: Hybrid solutions allow media teams to maintain control of sensitive or frequently used data on-premises while providing the flexibility to scale in the cloud.

Want to learn more about hybrid clouds? Download our free e-book, “Optimizing Media Workflows in the Cloud,” today.

The post Hybrid Cloud and Modern Workflows for Media Teams appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

On top of providing excellent care to patients, dental practices today are tasked with the care of ever more complex IT solutions. Complying with regulations like HIPAA, protecting patient health records, and managing stores of data from X-rays to insurance information are among the demands that dental practices have to meet.

Whether you outsource these tasks to a managed service provider (MSP) or you manage your data infrastructure in house with network attached storage (NAS) or other hardware, understanding backup best practices and the different options available to help you manage your practice’s data is important for your continued success.

Keeping your data safe and accessible doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. In this post, learn more about records retention for dental offices and how you can implement some simple strategies to keep data safe and protected, including 3-2-1 backups, common NAS devices, and insight from an MSP that specializes in IT services specifical for dental practices.

How Long Should a Dental Office Keep Records?

When thinking about backup and data storage solutions for your dental practice, it helps to first have a good understanding of the records retention requirements for dental offices. The best way to understand how long a dental office should keep records is to check with your state board of dentistry. Regulations on records retention vary by state and by patient type.

Retaining records for at least five to seven years is good practice, but some states will require longer retention periods of up to 10 years. Specific types of patients, including minors, may have different retention periods.

Regardless of your state regulations, records must be kept for five years for patients who receive Medicare or Medicaid. If your state regulations are less than five years, plan to retain records longer for these patients.

Finally, it’s good practice to keep all records for patients with whom you’re involved in any kind of legal dispute until the dispute is settled.

What Is the HIPAA Regulation for Storage of Dental Records?

HIPAA does not govern how long medical or dental records must be retained, but it does govern how long HIPAA-related documentation must be retained. Any HIPAA-related documentation, including things like policies, procedures, authorization forms, etc., must be retained for six years according to guidance in HIPAA policy § 164.316(b)(2)(i) on time limits. Some states may have longer or shorter retention periods. If shorter, HIPAA supersedes state regulations.

How Long Does a Dental Office Need to Keep Insurance EOBs?

Explanations of benefits or EOBs are documents from insurance providers that explain the amounts insurance will pay for services. Retention periods for these documents vary by state as well, so check with your state dental board to see how long you should keep them. Additionally, insurance providers may stipulate how long records must be kept. As a general rule of thumb, the longer retention period supersedes others. The best advice—err on the side of caution and keep records for the longest retention period required by either state or federal law. Fortunately, cloud storage provides you with a simple, affordable way to ensure your retention periods meet or exceed requirements.

3-2-1 Backup Strategy

Understanding how long you need to keep records is the first step in structuring your dental practice’s backup plan. The second is understanding what a good backup strategy looks like. The 3-2-1 backup strategy is a tried and true method for protecting data. It means keeping at least three copies of your data on two different media (i.e. devices) with at least one off-site, generally in the cloud. For a dental practice, we can use a simple X-ray file as an example. That file should live on two different devices on-premises, let’s say a machine reserved for storing X-rays which backs up to a NAS device. That’s two copies. If you then back your NAS device up to cloud storage, that’s your third, off-site copy.

The Benefits of Backing Up Your Dental Practice

Why do you need that many copies, you might ask. There are some tried and true benefits that make a strong case for using a 3-2-1 strategy rather than hoping for the best with fewer copies of your data.

1. Fast access to files. When you accidentally delete a file, you can restore it quickly from either your on-site or cloud backup. And if you need a file while you’re away from your desk, you can simply log in to your cloud backup and access it immediately.
2. Quick recoveries from computer crashes. Keeping one copy on-site means you can quickly restore files if one of your machines crashes. You can start up another computer and get immediate access, or you can restore all of the files to a replacement computer.
3. Reliable recoveries from damage and disaster. Floods, fires, and other disasters do happen. With a copy off-site, your data is one less thing you have to worry about in that unfortunate event. You can access your files remotely if needed and restore them completely when you are able.
4. Safe recoveries from ransomware attacks. After hearing about so many major ransomware attacks in the news this past year, you might be surprised to know that most attacks are carried out on small to medium-sized businesses. Keeping an off-site copy in the cloud, especially if you take advantage of features like Object Lock, can better prepare you to recover from a ransomware attack.
5. Compliance with regulatory requirements. As mentioned above, dental practices are subject to retention regulations. Using a cloud backup solution that offers AES encryption helps your practice achieve compliance.

Using NAS for Dental Practices

NAS is essentially a computer connected to a network that provides file-based data storage services to other devices on the network. The primary strength of NAS is how simple it is to set up and deploy.

NAS is frequently the next step up for a small business that is using external hard drives or direct attached storage, which can be especially vulnerable to drive failure. Moving up to NAS offers businesses like dental practices a number of benefits, including:

• The ability to share files locally and remotely.
• 24/7 file availability.
• Data redundancy.
• Integrations with cloud storage that provides a location for necessary automatic data backups.

If you’re interested in upgrading to NAS, check out our Complete NAS Guide for advice on provisioning the right NAS for your needs and getting the most out of it after you buy it.

Hybrid Cloud Strategy for Dental Practices: NAS + Cloud Storage

Most NAS devices come with cloud storage integrations that enable businesses to adopt a hybrid cloud strategy for their data. A hybrid cloud strategy uses a private cloud and public cloud in combination. To expand on that a bit, a hybrid cloud refers to a cloud environment made up of a mixture of typically on-premises, private cloud resources combined with third-party public cloud resources that use some kind of orchestration between them. In this case, your NAS device serves as the on-premises private cloud, as it’s dedicated to only you or your organization, and then you connect it to the public cloud.

Some cloud providers are already integrated with NAS systems. (Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage is integrated with NAS systems from Synology and QNAP, for example.) Check if your preferred NAS system is already integrated with a cloud storage provider to ensure setting up cloud backup, storage, and sync is as easy as possible.

Your NAS should come with a built-in backup manager, like Hyper Backup from Synology or Hybrid Backup Sync from QNAP. Once you download and install the appropriate backup manager app, you can configure it to send backups to your preferred cloud provider. You can also fine-tune the behavior of the backup jobs, including what gets backed up and how often.

Now, you can send backups to the cloud as a third, off-site backup and use your cloud instance to access files anywhere in the world with an internet connection.

Using an MSP for Dental Practices

Many dental practices choose to outsource some or all IT services to an MSP. Making the decision of whether or not to hire an MSP will depend on your individual circumstances and comfort level. Either way, coming to the conversation with an understanding of your backup needs and the cloud backup landscape can help.

Nate Smith, Technical Project Manager at DTC, is responsible for backing up 6,000+ endpoints on 500+ servers at more than 450 dental and doctor’s offices in the mid-Atlantic region. He explained that, due to the sheer number of objects most dentists need to restore (e.g., hundreds of thousands of X-rays), the cost of certain cloud providers can be prohibitive. “If you need something and you need it fast, Amazon Glacier will hit you hard,” he said, referring to the service’s warming fees and retrieval costs.

When seeking out an MSP, make sure to ask about the cloud provider they’re using and how they charge for storage and data transfer. And if you’re not using an MSP, compare costs from different cloud providers to make sure you’re getting the most for your investment in backing up your data.

Cloud Storage and Your Dental Practice

Whether you’re managing your data infrastructure in house with NAS or other hardware, or you’re planning to outsource your IT needs to an MSP, cloud storage should be part of your backup strategy. To recap, having a third copy of your data off-site in the cloud gives you a number of benefits, including:

• Fast access to your files.
• Quick recoveries from computer crashes.
• Reliable recoveries from natural disasters and theft.
• Protection from ransomware.
• Compliance with regulatory requirements.

Have questions about choosing a cloud storage provider to back up your dental practice? Let us know in the comments. Ready to get started? Click here to get your first 10GB free with Backblaze B2.

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