Peapack Gladstone Banks on SonicWALL for Continuous Data Protection

In an effort to remove the challenges associated with traditional tape back-up solutions, New Jersey-based Peapack Gladstone Banks recently switched to Continuous Data Protection (CDP) solutions from SonicWALL (NASDAQ: SNWL).

Before deploying the SonicWALL CDP appliances, Peapack Gladstone's IT staff used a tape backup systems which required them to swap out backup tapes twice a day and physically transport the tapes to another location for storage. In addition to its concerns about the time required for manual data backup, the bank was also anxious to find a data backup and recover solution that avoided the risk of tape failure, the high cost of tapes and the possibility of human error.

SonicWALL's CDP 4440i appliances provide Peapack Gladstone with reliable, cost-effective backup and recovery solutions that have restored valuable time to the bank's small IT support staff. SonicWALL CDP devices allow Peapack Gladstone to automatically back up files stored on servers, laptops and personal computers, including mission critical data such as email and Active Directory, while eliminating the need for trips to the off-site storage site.

Peapack Gladstone currently has its primary SonicWALL CDP located in the bank's state-of-the-art operations center, and a mirrored SonicWALL CDP located at another New Jersey facility. SonicWALL CDP's automatic and real-time data backup capability has proven its value to Peapack Gladstone's IT staff.

"Time is always critical in the banking industry," said Gregory Adams, senior member of IT for Peapack Gladstone Bank. "With our old back-up system, we would waste valuable time and resources leaving the office and traveling to retrieve off-site tapes. Round trip travel to branches and organizing the tape drawers were not effective use of our staff's time. The SonicWALL CDP devices have significantly reduced the time it took to backup data and support our employees' data retrieval requests. What would have taken us hours or days in the past, now takes a matter of minutes."

With the help of Delatush Systems, Inc., a SonicWALL Gold Partner, Peapack Gladstone's IT team evaluated several different back-up methods, including server-based solutions such as SAN, NAS and DAS, as well as other appliances. After performing a full analysis of the comparable products, Delatush found that their server-based solutions did not meet the bank's needs or budget, while the SonicWALL CDP appliances provided the features and benefits that Peapack Gladstone was looking for in a backup system.

"The server-based solutions were more expensive over the information asset's lifecycle, and they would have proved to be more expensive and time consuming in terms of management," said Paul Delatush, owner of Delatush Systems, Inc. "SonicWALL's devices are compatible with Microsoft, easy to use and fit the specific needs of the Peapack Gladstone enterprise."

SonicWALL's CDP Series provides hands-free data backup and instant data recovery and file versions, which can restore any version of a file; not just the latest version. In addition, the appliances remote administration and central management allow Peapack Gladstone's IT department to recover deleted files, manage users and enforce policies from a remote location.

Adams added, "The SonicWALL CDP device is a great solution. It was easy for senior engineers and administrators to roll out, while the Microsoft interface and navigation system make it easy to manage and interact with the device. Although we have never faced a major system failure or a natural disaster, all tests have shown that restoring lost data files, databases and Active Directory schemes have proven to be 100 percent effective and accurate."-SonicWall