Data protection isn’t an easy task in the modern enterprise. Adoption of cloud, mobile and virtual technologies — not to mention the exploding amounts of data that companies must protect — has made IT environments more complex than ever.

When a system crashes or an iPhone is stolen, that’s usually when someone grasps the importance of data backup. But just because someone is using Time Machine or iCloud as a backup method doesn’t necessarily mean all the data is protected. If the house is flooded or a large scale disaster occurs, all of that data could disappear. So how does a consumer know if the family photos, thousands of music files and other important documents are safe?

The dust has almost settled after the recent “shaker” – or an earthquake in our Californian slang – gladly, this time without casualties, serious injuries, with only minor property damage. Considering the area – Napa Valley, the Wine Country, delicate wine bottles don’t tolerate earthquakes well, but the damage was mostly “sentimental”. Still, it is always a wake-up call (literally at 3:30 am), both unexpected in a sense that you never know when and where it will strike next, and totally expected here in California. Apparently there is a forecasting service already in beta, predicting it up to 10 seconds in advance.

IT pros never have enough time to get all of their work done, which is why they love any technology that can reduce the time required to complete a task. While flash memory is often seen as having a small storage capacity and high cost, it delivers quick data storage. Contrary to the past, IT pros are turning to flash to streamline the backup process and let IT teams focus their time on other tasks, according to Drew Robb at Tech Page One.