Remember, offsite storage requires a fast Internet connection 'out' to the Internet. Although your existing connection may seem speedy for use in the office, the ever increasing amount of data that companies accumulate means that sending out full backups nightly could be far more volume that you think.

Many Internet providers (Comcast being the most notorious) sell 'assymmetric' Internet connections to business customers. These connections are designed for residential use, which means very fast download speeds, but slow upload speeds. Review your current Internet connection, and make sure you know what the 'upload speed' is.

The basic rule of thumb we use to determine how long it takes for your backups to get 'pushed out' to our offsite storage facilities is:

• 10GB of data at 10mbps speed = three hours

Note: This is a conservative estimate that allows for network overhead and latency.

For daily replication: You want to ensure that your data backup can be transferred in a maximum of four hours. In order to accomodate your future needs, we suggest that your initial offsite storage implementation target a one hour transfer time.

For weekly replication: You want to ensure that your data can be transferred in a maximum of twelve hours. To accommodate your future needs, we suggest that your initial offsite storage implementation target a six hour transfer time.