Some thoughts on RBS for the Beginner
                             By Bill Barnes
                     WEB Software & Consulting, Inc.

Starting a Remote Backup Service (RBS) is very easy.  All you need is a computer
and a modem (14.4K baud is recommended).  All of your will clients need a
computer and a modem.  Of course both of you will need a phone line. <g>

TeleBack supports doing Full or Incremental backups over the phone.  If your
client has a lot of data, Full Backups may be unproductive.  Remember, there
are only so many minutes in a day!  Transfering a compressed file of 1 megabyte,
at 14.4k baud takes approx. 11 minutes, at 28.8k baud it's approx. 6 minutes.
Doing Incremental Backups is by far, the better way to go.

We recommend that when you install TeleBack at your client's site, you do a
full backup to tape (with verify on of course <g>).  For this, you would
need an external tape drive. From that point on, you can do Incremental
backups (backup only the files that have changed since the last backup).
This way, you receive smaller files and are able to receive more phone calls
from other client computers, which in turn generates more revenue.  The next
morning, you simply backup the uploads from your clients to tape and store
them is a safe place (fire-proof safe, bank vault etc..)

Some of the the biggest selling points for doing remote backups are:

    1.  Ensures that backups are done regularly.  We all know how people get
        rushed and say, "I'll do it tomorrow, I don't have time right now."
        This gets said more and more as days go by.  TeleBack takes the human
        out of the backup loop.  Backups can also be initiated by the client
        if they find that they need to perform a backup immediately.  The
        operator is always allowed to override TeleBack.

    2.  Saves valuable time.  Doing a backup is a time consuming process.
        Doing a full backup on Fridays (as recommended) can take 3 hrs or more,
        if done correctly (by that we mean that after the backup is compete,
        the tape is now verified with whats on disk).  Doing Incremental
        backups during the week can take 30 or more minutes, depending on the
        amount of data.  Imagine the amount of time that can be saved just
        during one month!

    3.  The data is removed from site.  This one should really be number 2 on
        the list, but beleive it or not, removing the data from site is last on
        the list with businesses.

TeleBack takes care of all this at night, automatically, while the client's
computer is not being used.  To make it even a better sell, you can tell your
prospective client that he doesn't have to leave his computer on!  TeleBack
supports using another device called "The TelePower" (no affiliation) that will
turn the computer on when then phone rings.  When the backup is finished and it
has been uploaded to the host computer, The TelePower unit will then turn off
the client computer.

If you have questions (and I'm sure you will <g>) about TeleBack and how it is
currently being used, give us a call on our TeleBack Support line at:
904-943-8337.

Best Regards,

Bill Barnes