Backups stretching past 48 hours, restores not guaranteed. Fixed in two weeks, clean for five years
Schwing Stetter India, a 4,000+ employee manufacturing arm of the global SCHWING Group, a Uniware client for over 10 years. Their legacy backup system was failing to complete, restore, and keep pace with the business.
The problem
Backups stopped finishing. When they did, restoring wasn't guaranteed.
The client's legacy backup system, Veritas Backup Exec paired with a Quest DR appliance, had been struggling for over three years. The backup window, how long a full backup takes to complete, had grown past 48 hours, sometimes failing outright on VM-level backups.
Deduplication had stopped functioning properly due to insufficient storage capacity, so space was being consumed fast with none of the efficiency it was meant to provide. Underneath it all, the tape library used for long-term storage had developed physical decay, meaning even completed backups weren't always restorable. For an audit-driven manufacturing business, that combination was a risk that couldn't be left in place.
The solution
A single Dell appliance, chosen after studying 90 days of real backup data.
Uniware began with a live technical audit of the existing backup environment, then studied 90 days of the client's actual daily and weekly backup history to pinpoint exactly where the legacy system was breaking down.
That diagnosis led to the Dell EMC IDPA 4400, Dell's Integrated Data Protection Appliance, combining Avamar (backup software) and Data Domain (deduplication storage hardware) into a single, unified system. The appliance was deployed at the primary data centre in Sriperumbudur, with a matching Avamar and Data Domain setup at the disaster recovery site in Cheyyar.
- 1DeployInstalled the Dell EMC IDPA 4400 appliance at the primary data centre, with a matching setup at the disaster recovery site
- 2ConfigureSet up VMware and Exchange backup configurations on the new appliance, replacing the legacy Veritas and tape-based process entirely.
- 3ExtendConfigured file server backups across the environment, bringing every workload onto the single new system.
- 4HandoverTrained the client's IT team, handed over full documentation, and completed sign-off.
Technologies used
IDPA 4400 (Avamar + Data Domain)A quote from our team
We studied 90 days of their actual backup data before recommending anything, daily and weekly, so we could pinpoint exactly where the previous system was lagging. That's what let us recommend the right solution with confidence, not a guess.
K.R. Vergis
Chief Executive Officer, Uniware Systems
Before and after
From an overnight risk to a system that runs itself.
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Backup window | 48+ hours, sometimes incomplete | 8 hours, full backup |
| Incremental backups | 8+ hours | Minutes |
| Deduplication | Not functioning, capacity insufficient | Working, effectively storing 30–40TB on a 24TB license |
| Restore reliability | Not guaranteed, tape decay caused failures | Reliable, tested and working |
The results
Five years on, still running without a single failure.
- Backup window cut by 85%, from over 48 hours to roughly 8
- Incremental backups completed in minutes instead of over 8 hours
- Deduplication ratio of 23:1 achieved across multiple retention policies
- Zero backup or restore failures in the years since deployment
- License capacity scaled from 24TB to the appliance's full 96TB, no new hardware required
- OEM support rarely needed, Uniware manages ongoing patching and security updates directly
A quote from our client
After assessing multiple options, we realised Dell EMC IDPA 4400 was the right fit for our environment. With support from Dell Technologies and Uniware, we now have a solution that has improved efficiency, enhanced our backup process, and made us future-ready.
Saravanan Arunachalam
Head of Information Technology, Schwing Stetter India
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