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Online Backup Services: Page 3 of 22

Online backups work well at a variety of speeds. Our test connection ran at about 750 Kbps, but the data- reduction capabilities of the agents we tested would result in reasonable incremental backup windows even at DSL speeds. All the agents we tested are designed to handle interrupted backup transmissions and could theoretically operate over dial-up connections, but from a practical standpoint a company using online server backups should plan on using a symmetrical broadband connection exceeding 100 Kbps.

Now Turn Your Head and Cough

To begin our tests, we headed back to our NWC Real-World Labs in Green Bay, Wis. (see "How We Tested Online Backup Services," page 10, for our test-bed setup). We told the service providers up front not to give us any special treatment--as always, we would accept only services offered to ordinary customers.

Our servers' backup/restore agents ensured that our data was compressed and encrypted before it was transmitted to the service providers. This way, the data remained secure on the vendors' servers.

We can't overstate the importance of good password-management procedures to guarantee data access under all circumstances. The online vendors told us that while they can't access your data without authorization, they're prepared to work with you, to the extent their technology allows, to recover data under extreme circumstances, including disaster recovery and employee malfeasance.