Connected delivers enterprise online backup solution for corporate road warriors

Business Wire, Nov 12, 1996

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 12, 1996--COMDEX Booth

# IPB4--Internet Pavilion

Solves IS headaches for Mobile User support; Connected opens new

office, hires dedicated sales force to address growing market

Connected Corporation, provider of the industry-leading DataSafe online backup and recovery service, today announced its Corporate Mobile User Program and the availability of DataSafe for mobile users in Fortune 1000 companies. Now, using Connected's service, corporate road warriors such as sales personnel and traveling executives can quickly and easily protect their most valuable business asset -- their data.

In addition to providing reliable and secure daily off-site backup, Connected's service enables IS managers who support a mobile workforce to offload the tedious and time-consuming task of updating client application software. While backing up, mobile users anywhere in North America can automatically receive notification of and files containing new software and driver updates via Connected's simultaneous update and messaging engine capabilities. The client software can then install the updated files on the user s system upon request, quickly and easily.

Connected also announced the opening of its Palo Alto, Calif. sales office with sales personnel focused on selling into and supporting the Fortune 1000 laptop market. Connected is dedicated to providing this market with a wide range of Virtual MIS automated online system management services which protect and enhance the investments these organizations have made in their PC-based data and systems.

With DataSafe, Connected is addressing several problems facing IS managers today including:

-- Loss of irreplaceable data due to human, mechanical error and

theft because laptop computers aren't being backed up; and

-- The difficulty and time involved in updating applications on each

and every mobile computer

"PC support has grown to be one of the biggest and most expensive problems IS managers and staff face today," said Howard Marson, vice president of marketing for Connected. "Updating application software and making sure important data on every desktop is backed up is difficult enough. Take that scenario and extend it to a company's mobile workforce and the problem becomes nearly insurmountable without Connected's online technology."

Because an estimated 25 percent of the PCs sold today are portable devices, Connected's service is designed to help IS departments in Fortune 1000 companies solve the problems of supporting a mobile workforce and prevent data loss no matter what the cause. Hardware failures, human error and laptop computer theft all contribute to corporate data loss. According to a study from Ontrack Data Recovery Inc., hardware or system malfunction is responsible for 44 percent of data loss and human error for 32 percent. And according to computer insurer Safeware, 2,000 computers are stolen daily on average, two-thirds of which are laptops.

"Connected's mobile support solution has eliminated the hassles that go along with maintaining a mobile workforce," said Brian Whetten, president of GlobalCast Communications. "With Connected's services, our company can rest assured that our business-critical data is always available and accessible and at the same time save a tremendous amount of time, aggravation and money on mobile PC support."

About DataSafe

DataSafe is an automated online backup and recovery service for organizations whose PC-based data is essential and who do not have adequate access to computer support personnel and services. The service assures those users that their data is always protected and always available, easily and automatically.

Unlike traditional backup methods or not backing up at all, DataSafe delivers best recognized backup and recovery practices with no time or effort required from the user. Connected s patent-pending Delta Block technology automatically tracks and saves only those portions of each file that change from day to day, rather than having to backup entire files every time they change. This unique capability significantly reduces the time and cost to perform daily automated backups versus any other available backup method.

Other Unique DataSafe Features

-- Automated intelligent file selection for the first and each

subsequent backup

-- Ability to backup network drives

-- Completely mirrored secure operations centers for fault-tolerant

operations

-- Robust line management including automatic reconnect on line

drop, restarting transfers from within a file on line drop, and

automatic reconnect to the alternate operations center if the primary

center is busy

-- 56-bit DES encryption (40-bit DES for export) of all files

before they are transmitted via modem to Connected s secure

operations centers; encryption passwords are never sent over a

network or stored on Connected's servers

-- 24 hour a day, 7 day a week automated restore capability

-- Enabling remote file access and sharing between mobile users

-- Ability to generate a CD-ROM containing all of the user's files