Agents Are Finding Innovative Ways To Store Data
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After the laptop on which James Cotto stored his data crashed, he realized he needed a reliable backup system.
Although he only lost what had been stored in e-mail, the managing director of investments, Cotto and Padovani Financial Strategies Group of Wachovia Securities, Mt. Kisco, N.Y., saw the potential danger of leaving his data vulnerable to another crash.
Now, the agencys internal server acts directly with the servers at Wachovias offices in Richmond, Va., or Charlotte, N.C., he says. All data are backed up incrementally on an ongoing basis.
The agency uses Compact Troliant as its internal database management and client contact system. It uses Cisco networking hardware, which backs up to BlackWatch DLT, which uses half-inch tape, Cotto says.
Having all the data entered into the system go to a central server is "an easy way to access it," he says. "When my partners and my laptops crashed, we lost everything. Now everything goes to the server."
Now, if the agencys internal system does crash, it has a power system that will keep it operative for about an hour–the amount of time necessary for a complete backup, Cotto adds.
Joseph Sciabica, a certified financial planner with the Guardian Life Insurance Company, New York, uses the same system.
He stores all his data on his laptop hard drive and once a week backs it up to a mainframe network.
"Also, if its really important, Ill e-mail it from my office to my home, then I have it on the hard drive there, too," he says.
Sciabica is grateful for never having lost anything. He attributes this not to luck but to using small documents.
"Most of the stuff is spread sheets, PowerPoint, Word documents. Its not so big that it takes up so much space," he explains.
The real difficulties kick in when something goes wrong with the network, Sciabica says. "If I cant get on, thats a problem."
