The Bunker and IBM protect data by spreading it across the UK

Storing data in ex-nuclear facilities is only the start of The Bunker's protection proposition

Data storage has always been a challenge for firms in regulated sectors like finance, healthcare and government. The upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) means that all businesses holding data on European citizens will need to think about where and why that information is kept.

The public cloud is an excellent tool, increasingly turned to as storage requirements rise, but its security has been called into question. For this and legal reasons, its use is often not an option for regulated firms.

Philip Bindley - managing director of The Bunker - says that his company has a solution, without having to rely on expensive on-prem storage.

"About five years ago, the market became aware it had a huge problem in terms of data storage. The amount of data stored by companies was growing exponentially, and using traditional storage area networks to house it all was quickly becoming unsustainable."

The Bunker is an ‘ultrasecure' deep archiving solution, with two sites in former nuclear bunkers in Newbury, Berkshire and Sandwich, Kent. Another is located in Telehouse, North London.

Aside from the physical dependability aspect, Bindley says that the company further increased its security by using IBM's Cloud Object Storage, which distributes data between the three facilities:

"We realised it was a really unique market proposition, in terms of storing large quantities of data in a very secure and available way… We subjected it to rigorous acceptance testing. In our contract, we stipulated that if the solution couldn't pass these tests, we would return it. It sailed through...which gave us confidence we were on to something good."

With IBM Object Storage, we can effectively slice the data into separate pieces and disperse it across all of our datacentre locations - Philip Bindley, MD of The Bunker

The Bunker says that it can host large data sets at a low cost, in a way that complies with UK law:

"Customers can come to us, say ‘Here's the data that we legally have to keep in the UK', and we can ensure we maintain that data for them in the most secure environment possible," says Bindley. "IBM Cloud Object Storage helps give our customers peace of mind, because with us they know they can keep their data secure, and at much lower cost than a traditional on-premises storage infrastructure."

It isn't only national regulations that the company assists with. Greg McVey, head of business development at The Bunker, says that its deep archive goes "hand in hand" with GDPR requirements:

"[I]f you have a compelling business reason to store personal information, which a lot of companies will do, the data protection authorities will expect you to show how you are safeguarding that data. Taking into account the level of encryption and security that Cloud Object Storage offers, I really don't think there's a more secure way of protecting that personal information."