Businesses were shaken in 2009 by the stark reminder that bad things happen. Optimism is returning, but the lesson to be prepared for disaster with a plan for quick recovery will not be lost on businesses in 2010.

Solution providers are seeing profitable business from customers determined to spend on IT to save money over the long term. Technologies that lower costs and increase efficiency, such as virtualization, are delivering strong revenue for solution providers. An uptick in remote workers who typically introduce Macs and Linux-based PCs into a business network has helped drive remote, managed services revenue.

Now is the time to make sure you have a strong disaster-recovery solution to present to customers. It should cover all parts of the network where data resides, operate with multiple hardware platforms, and protect the growing number of virtual clients populating today's corporate networks.

Simplifying the Complex
Automation is the key to a profitable disaster-recovery strategy. To fully and quickly recover downed PCs, servers and other clients, the data and system image that's being restored must be complete and current. The backup routine must operate without creating productivitydamaging network latency. And to meet businesses' requirements, the solution must restore messaging data as well as documents and applications.

Meeting the Needs of SMBs
One disaster-recovery solution that can exceed the expectations of small to midsize businesses (SMBs) is Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010. With this product, Symantec has created a simple, cost-effective backup and recovery solution that helps dramatically minimize downtime and prevent cataclysmic data loss that can ruin a business. Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 recovers individual data files and folders and complete Windows systems in minutes, instead of hours or even days.

Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 can back up and restore data on Windows servers, desktops and laptops, and even virtualized environments. There's also a version for Linux. Wherever an extension of a network resides, Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 can operate remotely to restore downed systems quickly without the loss of data or messaging history.

The Right Partner
Disaster recovery strategies for SMBs have to be designed cost-effectively, and resource-strapped SMBs typically require the ongoing support of a solution provider to administer them. "Because of the complexity associated with setting up and maintaining disaster recovery strategies, many SMBs do not have them. They lack the resources, distributed administrative expertise, and off-site storage locations that are required to provide disaster recovery capabilities," according to a report by the Taneja Group, an industry research firm.

Having a strong go-to-market partner helps your SMB disaster recovery business grow more profitable, more quickly. Symantec has an industry-leading partner program that delivers incentives, education, technical certifications and marketing support that help you succeed.

Solution providers are optimistic about the prospects for security, storage management and disaster recovery opportunities in the SMB market. That optimism is driven by the understanding that security and storage are must-have technologies in a business network. And, with the right partner, it is not difficult to make a compelling case for business customers to continue to invest in these technologies.