AutoNation Achieves Backups 12 Times Faster, Cuts Costs With New Backup Software

Leading automotive retailer AutoNation watched its data expand as rapidly as its car sales. When its data stores hit 15 terabytes, the company could no longer back up all of its data in a 24-hour period. Also, the tape-based backup scheme required hours of management each week and was often unreliable. AutoNation decided to deploy Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007, a disk-and-tape backup system, to back up its Microsoft-based file, database, and messaging workloads. Since moving to the new software, AutoNation has seen a 12-times reduction in backup times and a six-hour timesaving each week for IT staff. Users are more productive because of the ready availability of disk-based backups, and backup maintenance costs have dropped by 30 percent.