Softsource vBridge's Indelible Backup service is already used by Auckland University of Technology, several district councils and other New Zealand-based organisations.

The company has already taken – and is quickly filling – 2PB of data – on Cloudian's platform, and will use more as required to serve new and existing customers.

Indelible Backup is ISO 27001 compliant, and keeps data hosted in New Zealand while preventing access from outside the country. This helps organisations meet security and compliance needs and preferences around sensitive data.

The service has zero ingress or egress costs, which can save tens of thousands of dollars per month or more depending on the amount of data in play and the particular platform it replaces.

Indelible Backup runs on HPE servers within Souftsource vBridge's data centrea, and in addition to Cloudian HyperStore typically uses Veeam's backup, disaster recovery and data protection software.

"Our Cloudian-based service, Indelible Backup, offers the difference between being back online within hours or days instead of weeks or months when the worst happens," said Softsource vBridge customer experience manager John Ward.

"When organisations are locked out of their data, they can't operate, trade, pay staff or process invoices. The costs can spiral into millions of dollars, notwithstanding the long-term customer relationship and reputational damage that can occur."

Some organisations find using Cloudian and Softsource makes it easier – and in some cases cheaper – to obtain cyber insurance.

"Cyber insurance is often the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff – if you need to activate it, you've already lost in a sense," said Ward. "But it's something New Zealand organisations require. By partnering with Cloudian, we can help organisations get insurance, and we help them avoid needing to use it."

Cloudian Asia Pacific and Japan senior director James Wright said "There's a wider risk here when organisations believe there is a level of separation between the data they use and its backup copy. In reality, backup copies are vulnerable, something they only realise when they're attacked and both datasets are compromised.

"We've designed this system to provide the level of assurance that New Zealand organisations need. The backups are untouchable, and are even protected from rogue actors within the organisation. The backup copies can be the lifeline organisations need when their perimeter defences are taken down, and really that is a 'when, not if' consideration."