Secure in the Field: How Sky Data Vault Replaced Aging Infrastructure and Eliminated Backup Risk for a Radio Communications Company
The Customer
A field-operations-driven radio communications and security technology company serving commercial and public safety clients across multiple locations. With a distributed team of field technicians, remote employees, and administrative staff managing critical radio programming data and financial records, the company needed a reliable, accessible, and secure IT infrastructure to keep day-to-day operations running smoothly.
The Challenge
The company was operating on aging on-premises servers – storing radio programming files and running accounting software – with no reliable remote access to either. Field technicians were cut off from operational documents while on the road, and the accounting team relied on an insecure, fragile remote desktop workaround just to process payroll.
Their existing backup solution was a consumer-grade product running near capacity, with no restore testing ever performed and no protection against ransomware. Critical SaaS platforms, including HubSpot and Microsoft 365, were completely unprotected. And sitting at the center of it all was a firewall more than a decade old, incompatible with modern VPN technology, and blocking any path to a secure remote access solution. The company needed expert guidance to identify the right replacement and a trusted partner to help deploy it.
The company needed to replace its failing backup infrastructure, modernize its network, enable secure remote access for distributed staff, and bring its SaaS platforms under formal protection – all without disrupting the business operations that depended on this aging stack every single day.
The Solution
Sky Data Vault delivered a comprehensive managed cloud solution that addressed not just the infrastructure needs, but the operational dependencies and migration risks that other vendors overlooked.
Where competitors might have offered generic cloud hosting, SDV recognized that simply lifting broken infrastructure into the cloud would only move the problems – not solve them. Instead, SDV designed a sequenced rollout with a backup migration first, followed by network modernization and per-user remote access, ensuring continuity throughout the transition.
- Cloud-Hosted Server Environment: Aging on-premises servers consolidated into a fully managed hosted environment with Windows Server licensing included, eliminating hardware dependency and enabling full remote access for field and office staff.
- Backup as a Service (BaaS): Enterprise-grade, immutable, and snapshot-based backups replacing the consumer-grade solution, with a multi-tiered retention schedule providing robust recovery options across multiple restore points.
- Firewall Advisory + SSL VPN Enablement: SDV assessed the existing network environment and provided expert recommendations for a modern firewall capable of supporting site-to-site and per-user VPN. The channel partner worked directly with the customer to procure and install the recommended solution, with SDV providing technical guidance throughout to ensure each remote employee received secure, individual access credentials.
- SaaS Data Backup: Formal protection extended to HubSpot and Microsoft 365, both of which had been completely unprotected prior to the engagement.
- Accounting Software Cloud Hosting: Full validation and deployment of the company’s accounting platform in SDV’s hosted environment, with careful network configuration to prevent disruption during cutover.
- Hands-On Implementation: A senior network engineer led the full environment setup and data migration, with a dedicated SDV team member overseeing SaaS backup onboarding from start to finish.
The Outcomes
Operational Freedom
- Field technicians gained secure, reliable access to radio programming files and operational documents from anywhere.
- Accounting staff eliminated the insecure remote desktop workaround entirely – payroll processing is now accessible through a secure, enterprise-grade VPN connection.
- Accounting software successfully running in the cloud with full multi-user concurrent access validated.
Avoided Capital Expenditure
- Eliminated the cost and risk of hardware refresh for aging physical servers.
- Predictable monthly costs replacing unpredictable consumer subscription renewals and capital outlays.
- Infrastructure investment redirected from depreciating equipment to operational growth.
Enhanced Security Posture
- Consumer-grade backup replaced with enterprise BaaS covering the company’s full data footprint.
- Immutable, air-gapped backups eliminate ransomware as a single point of failure.
- HubSpot and Microsoft 365 data brought under formal protection for the first time.
- Modern firewall recommended by SDV and deployed by the partner, enabling secure VPN connectivity without operational disruption.
Why Sky Data Vault Won
The company evaluated options before selecting Sky Data Vault. What set SDV apart was the ability to provide both professional services and managed infrastructure, while competitors could deliver hardware or hosting, none could sequence and manage the real-world dependencies: expert firewall guidance coordinated through the partner, accounting software migration complexity, and SaaS backup onboarding. SDV’s partner-led engagement model, transparent usage-based pricing with no egress fees, and a hands-on implementation team gave the company confidence that this migration would be fully managed from the first discovery call through go-live.