The data recovery market might not be for everyone, but it's a relatively new and growing area where vendors are surfing for partners to navigate through the lucrative SMB space in Canada.

The data recovery market might not be for everyone but it's a relatively new and growing area. Computer vendors are hunting for partners, as small and medium-size Canadian companies finally recognize their valuable data is at risk just like any large financial conglomerate or government agency.

The backup of data became more complex over the years, with more platforms to support and an increase in quantity. In many cases, hard copy has also been eliminated, making digital property invaluable.

But it also causes management headaches.

With an infrastructure that's based mainly on IBM equipment and software, Storagepipe, which was formed with the assistance of a venture capitalist and a team of individuals, works very closely with IBM to develop backup and archival services to ease the pressures.

Customers "sign on our system and see a directory tree of everything backed up. They click on what they want to restore and there's a checkmark that appears beside it. They hit the restore button and within 30 seconds that file is reproduced on our side, and sent to them back on the Internet. It's like sending out an e-mail."

Private and public firms realize they can back up data with a service provider at an off-site location, rather than trying to manage their data storage alone. 

"The first step in any disaster recovery plan is for an organization get their data securely and reliably backed up off-site. Typically, organizations back up to their tapes, and they take their tapes offsite. Where they keep their tapes that's another story. Some people will keep it in the trunk of their car, some people keep them in the basement."

"We're one component, but they say it's the most important component of any disaster-recovery plan, because without your data you're finished.

"You can buy the most elaborate hot-site services, and response times and all sorts of things, and the fanciest equipment but if the data's not properly managed, all of that is of no use."

Storagepipe caters to a variety of customers. Among them are Environment Canada,  Baycrest Hospital, Gateway Newstands, 2001 Stereo and adidas-Salomon Canada Ltd.

Adidas, which uses an AS/400 platform, banks about 200GB with Storagepipe.

Paul Leone, vice-president of IT and logistics at adidas-Salomon in Concord, Ont., says his company has been using Storagepipe for nearly six months.

It's a lot of critical storage, Leone said. "We're talking about all of our supply-chain data and all of our user-maintained folders on our network servers. All of that information is backed up every night through Storagepipe."

Asked whether he had to recover data after switching to Storagepipe, he said, "Absolutely -- not a problem.

"It happens maybe once every two months, we have to bring a file back." In terms of disaster recovery planning, Leone said Storagepipe's solution plays a big role. "If we're able to store all of our data offline somewhere else, and something happens here, we've got the bigger part here solved."

Customers can get a snapshot of how the service performs with a no-cost, no-obligation trial period of up to 30 days.

"It's now moving into smaller corporations, as people are realizing after Sept. 11 the value of being prepared," he said. "What people realize is they have a much better understanding of what they do and what's really necessary at a time of crisis."

"There was a lot of interest in or after Sept. 11," IDC Canada research manager (hardware infrastructure) Alan Freedman said.