Case Study: City of Cumberland achieves faster, more reliable backups and disaster recovery with ExaGrid

City Modernizes Backup Infrastructure with ExaGrid System

The City of Cumberland, Maryland (pop. ~21,000) needed to replace an aging, tape‑based backup infrastructure that had become unreliable and time‑consuming to manage. After budget constraints during the recession delayed a refresh, IT leaders prioritized a modern backup solution to ensure data could be consistently protected and restored.

The city deployed two ExaGrid disk‑based systems with GRID architecture—one in city hall and one in the public safety building—replicating data nightly and integrating with Symantec Backup Exec and Veeam. Backups now run automatically and in less than half the time (a 420 GB server dropped from ~15 hours to ~7), zone‑level deduplication reduces stored data, support provides proactive monitoring, and the GRID design allows seamless, scalable expansion for future growth and a new ERP.

City of Cumberland

Johnna Byers

Director, Management Information Systems