Case Study: SEMCO ENERGY achieves 50% faster backups and 90% less backup administration with ExaGrid

SEMCO ENERGY’s Move to Disk Backup With Deduplication Results in Dramatically Faster, More Efficient Backups

SEMCO ENERGY, a privately held natural gas distributor serving approximately 409,000 customers in Michigan and Alaska, faced growing backup challenges as data volumes increased. Their SAN-to-tape process produced 24-hour backup windows, frequent tape failures, and 2–4 hours per day of tape administration, making the solution unreliable and costly.

SEMCO implemented ExaGrid’s disk-based backup with post-process deduplication working with their existing Symantec BackupExec, eliminating tape workflows and halving the backup window to about 12 hours. The change cut backup administration by roughly 90% (saving about 20 hours/week), improved restore performance, and provided a scalable, cost-effective platform with strong vendor support.

SEMCO Energy

Lary O'Connor

System Administrator LAN/WAN