Disaster recovery planning on readers' minds in 2021

A successful disaster recovery strategy isn't reactive; it's proactive. The most read news stories on SearchDisasterRecovery in 2021 reflect the proactive mindset of enterprise data stewards.

The top news stories this year involved the launch of new disaster recovery products and services from cloud hyperscalers, such as AWS' Elastic Disaster Recovery, or third-party vendors protecting the major clouds, like StorageCraft's disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) for Google Cloud Platform.

The initiative by AWS to launch its own disaster recovery service, alongside many others moving into cloud-native variations, marks an increasingly complex market for buyers to navigate in 2022, according to Krista Macomber, a senior analyst at Evaluator Group.

"The market is at an interesting point right now. Customers are taking a step back and taking a look at their DR strategy," she said. "The optimal disaster recovery is going to be different among each customer."

Other popular topics among readers include cyber attack recovery and critical event management. Macomber said she expects ransomware and other cybersecurity concerns to increase in the years to come.

Below are the top 10 most-read stories of the year on SearchDisaterRecovery, ranked by total views, beginning with the most-read story.

1. Dell draws line between cyber recovery and disaster recovery

There's a difference between traditional disaster recovery services and cyber-recovery services. Many enterprises would be wise to understand the difference, according to Pete Renneker, managing director at Deloitte and Touche LLP. Renneker broke down the differences and the sorts of purchases an enterprise should consider to remain protected.

2. AWS launches disaster recovery service

AWS released a new disaster recovery service developed and managed by the hyperscaler itself. This new service promises unified processes for drills, recovery and failbacks, but analysts warned the service provides the "lowest level of protection." Still, AWS' investment in its disaster recovery portfolio shows the hyperscaler is determined to keep users within its own ecosystem.

3. HPE fills in GreenLake with Zerto acquisition

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) acquired popular cloud data protection and disaster recovery service Zerto this year to strengthen its GreenLake cloud platform. The acquisition was one of many SaaS additions the legacy IT vendor made this year to wade deeper into the SaaS market.

4. JetStream Software carries DR to Azure VMware Solution

JetStream Software delivered disaster recovery and replication services of on-premises VMware virtual machines into Azure Blob Storage with JetStream DR for Azure VMware Solution. The product became generally available in November, after several months of delays. Microsoft Azure, the second largest hyperscaler, can protect Azure-native VMs with Azure Site Recovery, but VMware's own VMs require a different kind of DR protection.

5. StorageCraft DRaaS sets up shop on Google Cloud Platform

StorageCraft expanded its DRaaS from colocated data centers and into the Google Cloud Platform as the company chases the SMB market. StorageCraft representatives said the move mirrors customers, who are moving to the managed cloud for their data center needs instead of so-called "DIY DR" in data centers.

6. Everbridge CTO details critical event management 'wake-up call'

Imad Mouline, CTO at Everbridge, discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the market for critical event management services and what will dictate market trends after 2021. Although not a true disaster recovery service in the sense of protecting data, critical event management services and tools are becoming a useful service for massive enterprise customers to keep abreast on issues which could impact remote employees.

7. SIOS Protection Suite update enhances HA for cloud and SAP

SISO Technology Corp. expanded its flagship SIOS Protection Suite, which includes the LifeKeeper and DataKeeper software for both Windows and Linux, with new features to make high availability clusters easier to manage and more protected during failovers. Remote workforces require high uptime for IT infrastructure, and software such as SIOS Protection Suite enables automated scheduling of downtimes to an individual user level, without the manual intervention of IT.

8. Infrascale refreshes DRaaS offering with SSD appliances

Infrascale rebranded its disaster recovery service and hardware to Infrascale Backup and Disaster Recovery following the launch of new SSD-powered appliances for faster recovery times following small-scale outages. Despite the price premium for SSD technology, analysts said an increasing number of companies want to increase their recovery times.

9. Zerto launches DR orchestration tool for AWS EC2

Zerto launched a new AWS disaster recovery orchestration tool, Zerto In-Cloud, to protect AWS EC2 instances with application-level failover, automated failover tests, and other features entirely through AWS' native functions. Zerto, compared to services created by AWS, still offers more feature-rich services, according to analysts, and better protects against cyber attacks that could compromise data.

10. AlertMedia boosts threat intelligence warning capabilities  

AlertMedia, an emergency communication platform specializing in mass notifications systems, added  an in-house staff for its Global Threat Intelligence Product. The team provides independently verified warnings for incidents or disasters which could impact employees, including severe weather or "public demonstrations," according to AlertMedia. Similar to Everbridge, more IT services providers are looking at how they can protect their most important resource -- human capital.

Tim McCarthy is a journalist living in the North Shore of Massachusetts. He covers cloud and data storage news.