Case Study: Baron & Baron achieves reliable cloud backup, fast recovery and self-service media archives with Backblaze B2

B2 makes cloud dreams a reality at creative agency Baron & Baron

Baron & Baron, a full-service creative agency working with major fashion and beauty brands, faced a major backup and archive challenge after Hurricane Sandy and years of growing high‑resolution photo and video files. Their IT director, Rocco Russo, was the lone gatekeeper for hundreds of LTO tapes while servers grew to 30–100 TB each, and early cloud attempts failed due to large media file sizes and bandwidth limits. Backblaze (Backblaze B2 and the Backblaze Fireball rapid ingest service) was evaluated as part of a move off tape to a more accessible cloud-based archive.

Working with Archiware P5 and integrator T2 Computing, Backblaze B2 and Fireball were implemented in a hybrid solution that kept a local tape copy but pushed backups and an archive bucket to the cloud. The Fireball handled the initial bulk upload, incremental backups now run over the network, and creative teams can self‑retrieve assets with searchable, taggable archives and video previews. Backblaze B2 also delivered a cost advantage (about $5 per TB per month and roughly one‑fourth the cost of the largest provider), enabling Baron & Baron to phase out labor‑intensive tape workflows and restore fast, automated access to their media.

Baron & Baron

Rocco Russo

IT Director