HP has introduced a disk-based back-up and recovery system that makes data protection and disaster recovery simple, reliable and affordable.

Designed expressly for the business continuity and IT needs of small and medium businesses (SMBs), the new HP StorageWorks D2D Backup System automates and centralises back-up to provide reliable data protection for up to four servers in a single, secure, self-managing device.

The HP D2D Backup System integrates into existing network-based IT environments and can be configured and managed in three intuitive steps. Daily back-ups become fully automatic, reducing the risk of human error and hardware problems. Restoring lost or corrupted files also becomes easier, because back-up data is stored online, where it can be restored in minutes instead of hours.

The system is also at least 50 per cent less expensive than other competing systems.

According to IDC, more than 50 per cent of small and medium businesses cited improved data availability and recovery as their No. 1 storage management challenge. In addition, data protection and disaster recovery are the top SMB drivers for planned spending on additional storage capacity over the next year.

As with the HP StorageWorks All-in-One Storage Systems, HP has greatly simplified the setting up and installation for SMBs with the HP D2D Backup System. It features an iSCSI interface that plugs into a standard Ethernet network and a set up wizard that allows customers with little or no storage experience to configure the device.