Can dramatically reduce downtime associated with sorting computer failures 

Durham, N.C. – In today’s environment of automated mail processing, computer downtime can cost mailers in lost postal discounts, decreased labor efficiencies, missed customer service-level agreements, and disappointed customers. Today at the National Postal Forum in Nashville, Tennessee, Bell and Howell introduced a new Data Protection and Recovery (DPR) service to help mailers dramatically reduce downtime associated with computer failures in their sorting operation. 

The new DPR service provides network-based protection and restoration of an organization’s entire sorting operation, and provides numerous benefits:

• Protects against computer, hard drive and data corruption
• Enables rapid restoration of both system and configuration data
• Protects all embedded PCs as well as NetSort servers
• Protects all Bell and Howell sorting platforms and configurations
• Protects entire sorting operation – not just one system 

Bell and Howell’s DPR service is available through an annual service agreement that includes installation of a high-availability local network storage unit with disk redundancy, customized backup and restoration software, complete documentation, and operator training. As part of the service, Bell and Howell professionals work with mailers to determine the optimal backup scheduling for their environments. Operators back up the sorting servers and various sorting computers onto the local storage unit attached to their sorting network.

The DPR service encompasses three-part protection:

• Individual images of all sorting computers
• Critical configuration files and registry entries needed to recover computer
• Backup copy of NetSort archived database

“We are excited to make this new service available to our customers. The DPR service simplifies the many steps needed to back up the sorting systems. In the event of a failure, the operator replaces the failed hard disk or computer, then simply executes the recovery procedure to restore software and the configuration data needed to get mailers back up and running,” said Jim Feeley, vice president and general manager, Service Solutions. “The entire recovery operation can be performed in as little as 30 minutes, and Bell and Howell’s technical support team is available 24x7 to help guide them through the process.”