The Wilson Center is the nation's key non-partisan policy forum, tackling global issues through independent research, open dialogue and actionable ideas. Chartered by Congress in 1968 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., it supports world-renowned fellows as they research topics of national and international significance. Every academic year the center welcomes more than 120 new fellows and 200 interns. In 2019, the Wilson Center was named the No. 1 regional studies think tank in the world.

Given the sensitive nature of the Wilson Center's data and its location in the nation's capital, chief technology officer Bruce Griffith wanted a disaster recovery solution that would keep data safe from outside threats while allowing staff, fellows and interns to continue working and collaborating. As Griffith noted, Washington, D.C. can be a target for both physical and cyber attacks.

The IT department is lean and covers everything from each user's desktop and collaboration systems to the overall infrastructure, so any DR solution had to be low-maintenance. A previous DR solution could not deliver reliable data replication, and Griffith continued to search for one that would meet all of the department's needs.

The wish list was clear. Every user's information had to be protected and accessible, both for day-to-day use and for emergency failovers. The solution needed to be flexible, reliable and cost-effective; it had to support the US FIPS requirements the center follows for the bulk of its operations; and colocation for an additional security device was a must-have.

The Wilson Center selected 11:11 DRaaS for Zerto from 11:11 Systems (the service was first delivered under the iland brand, now part of 11:11 Systems). The 11:11 Cloud Console, combined with Zerto's replication capabilities, simplifies DR management: insight into cloud resources lets Griffith monitor the status of the network at any time and perform failover testing, so the entire DR solution can be managed with less staff.

Pricing was another factor in the choice. 11:11 Systems charges per VM and per TB of storage, which allows the center to protect different workloads, pay only for what it uses now, and grow the number of protected VMs in the future.

Security and compliance were built in. The 11:11 Cloud platform's encryption, intrusion detection and antivirus/anti-malware features help the IT team meet the federal FIPS requirements. 11:11 Systems also provides colocation within the replication environment for the center's additional security device, along with further security and compliance offerings, so every member's information is kept secure and confidential.

Griffith reported that every department at 11:11 Systems walked his team through and explained each step of the process.

• Reliable data replication after a previous DR solution failed to deliver it
• Flexible per-VM and per-TB pricing makes DR cost-effective and able to grow with the center
• 11:11 Cloud Console gives a lean IT team visibility to monitor the network and run failover tests
• Encryption, intrusion detection and anti-malware help meet US FIPS requirements
• Colocation for an additional security device inside the replication environment