Hybrid backup provides flexible access to data with a short shelf life

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It comes as no surprise that Danish Crown focuses on the shelf life of food. Perhaps a more surprising fact is that the food group also distinguishes between data with long shelf life and data with short shelf life. The difference between the two types of data is so significant that Danish Crown, with the help of Atea has built a hybrid backup infrastructure.

The hybrid backup concept means that Atea at all Danish Crown production facilities at home and abroad delivers, implements, and operates on-site backup solutions in parallel with the backup at Atea's data centre. In short, the advantage of the local backup servers is that the restore speed is at a significantly higher pace compared to a remote backup solution.

Here-and-Now Data

According to Jens Erik Jensen, IT Senior Director at Danish Crown, the local backup solution allows for several advantages when the food group handles production data with a short shelf life.

"In contrast to our administration data, data from production, which, for example, documents the quality of the raw materials, is here-and-now data that is only relevant for a few days. Thus, we have chosen to retain the backup of that data locally so that it is always available to us, regardless of whether we access it during 'peak hours'," says Jens Erik Jensen, IT Senior Director at Danish Crown.  

Scalability supports sustainability 

The food group's on-site backup solution has a minimal consumption of data centre "foot print". It can handle maximum amounts of local backup data copies, which can be scaled up with more disks and appliances.

"As part of our sustainability commitments as a food company, we must always be able to document all stages of our production. With our hybrid backup, we can build more scalability into the solution continuously, and it ensures that data is always online and accessible."

Scalability is also inextricably linked to Atea's ability to quickly build more volume into the hybrid backup setup when it suits Danish Crown. Thus, the delivery and implementation of new, local backup servers for newly established production facilities is central to the collaboration between Danish Crown and Atea.

Outsourcing strengthens core services

Jens Erik Jensen makes no secret that outsourcing IT services such as backup is an integral part of the food group's IT strategy. Since 2004, Atea has been a critical part of Danish Crown's technological journey, including in the backup area, where the food group has undertaken a change of architecture from remote to hybrid backup.

"Outsourcing our backup is absolutely in line with our IT strategy, where we as an IT department are constantly looking at where we can deliver the greatest value to the company. And when we make a BaaS agreement (Backup as a Service, ed.) with Atea, it means that we subsequently do not have to spend resources on keeping an eye on any critical mass." 

For more than 17 years, Atea has handled the group's daily backup operations and monitoring based on pressure-tested, certified, and standardised processes. Together with built-in 24/7 support, which ensures Danish Crown emergency help in unforeseen circumstances, this provides flexibility and security that the entire business can build on, Jens Erik Jensen adds.

"We have worked with Atea for so many years that we are well aware that they are better at the backup discipline than we are."