Druva Delivers Unwavering Confidence and Increased Security for Castle School Education Trust

The Castle School Education Trust (CSET) began in March 2013, when The Castle School converted to an Academy. Since then, several schools have joined the group and CSET now also includes Marlwood, Downend and Mangotsfield secondary schools as well as Charfield, Severn Beach, Cherry Garden, Tortworth and Lyde Green primary schools in the United Kingdom.

CSET faced a complex and fragmented data protection landscape. Their previous ‘black box’ backup solution, managed by an MSP using a product called Cove by N-able, lacked transparency, reliability, and the comprehensive coverage needed for their evolving hybrid environment. 

Toby Ratcliffe, Director of IT, faced a challenging situation upon stepping into his role: the absence of a formal contract for backup services. This lack of structure left the organization with no clear visibility into Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) or Recovery Time Objectives (RTO). The situation was even more alarming considering a major ransomware attack the Trust had endured in March 2021. During that attack, backups were compromised, leading to significant data loss and highlighting the critical need for a robust backup strategy.

CSET is undergoing a "cloud-first" transformation, with data distributed across various environments: on-prem data centers, Azure, and a 50/50 split between Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. This multi-cloud, multi-SaaS setup posed significant challenges for traditional backup solutions, which were often limited to specific parts of such diverse workloads. "The issue with many backup solutions is that they can only handle certain aspects using one of their products," Ratcliffe explained. The existing approach was fragmented, inefficient, and lacked the centralized control necessary for effective data governance and robust disaster recovery.

CSET's search for a modern, unified data protection solution led them to Druva, introduced by their partner, Intuitive Infrastructure Solutions Ltd. The key differentiator for CSET was Druva's ability to provide a "single pane of glass overview," offering instant visibility into backup status across their entire environment. "We were impressed with the single pane of glass overview that Druva brings to reduce complexity and administrative overheads which allows us to further secure our data," Ratcliffe noted.

Druva's cloud-native platform was uniquely suited to CSET's agile, piecemeal cloud migration strategy. Unlike other solutions with inflexible licensing models or challenges in consolidating diverse workloads, Druva offered a comprehensive approach to seamlessly protect data across multiple environments. This included Microsoft 365, covering Exchange, OneDrive, and Entra ID (which was previously not backed up), Google Workspace to safeguard their critical Google environment, Azure for their chosen public cloud infrastructure, and VMware to protect their on-premises virtualized environments.

A key factor in Druva's appeal was its powerful immutability feature, offering an essential safeguard against ransomware attacks. After enduring a devastating breach in the past, CSET’s new IT strategy had provided a diversity of workloads that needed a solution that could ensure data integrity while enabling swift recovery across these workloads. "Immutability is especially critical for protecting our data from ransomware attacks," Ratcliffe highlighted.

The proof of concept (POC) was instrumental in demonstrating Druva's capabilities. Even after rigorous evaluations for GDPR and UK regulatory compliance, the POC was implemented smoothly and efficiently, solidifying CSET's confidence in the solution. "The proof of concept was crucial—it showed that seeing really is believing with this solution," Ratcliffe noted.

Through the partnership with Druva and Intuitive Infrastructure Solutions, Castle School Education Trust (CSET) has revolutionized its data protection strategy, achieving unparalleled confidence, simplified operations, and robust security across its diverse IT landscape.

Enhanced Backup Confidence: Since adopting Druva, CSET transitioned from a 'black box' backup service to a transparent and manageable data protection solution, leading to vastly improved confidence in its backups. By conducting regular test restores and integrity checks, the IT team and leadership gained invaluable peace of mind. "We now perform test restores and verify the integrity of the data we restore," Ratcliffe explained, highlighting the enhanced reliability and trust in their backup processes.

Streamlined and Simplified Operations: Druva’s single platform eliminated the need for multiple, disconnected backup solutions, consolidating data protection across Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Azure, and VMware. This consolidation streamlined workflows, reduced administrative overhead, and freed up the infrastructure team to focus on strategic initiatives rather than troubleshooting backups across a plethora of systems. "The fact that I haven’t heard anything [from the infrastructure team] and the reassurance of logging in and seeing “You don’t have any alerts right now” is music to my ears," Ratcliffe shared.

Improved Ransomware Defense: Immutable backups and advanced security features have significantly bolstered CSET's defense against ransomware. This was critical for CSET after a past ransomware attack compromised their backups. With Druva, their data is now more secure than ever.

Comprehensive Educational Data Protection: Druva now protects the data of over 2,000 students and 800 staff members, including critical coursework for Key Stage 4 and 5 students. This expanded coverage safeguards vital educational resources, ensuring students and staff can rely on uninterrupted access to data.

Scalable for Future Growth: Druva’s scalable, cloud-native architecture is ready to support future M&A activity without requiring a complete overhaul of the backup strategy. "The other solutions that we looked at just weren't able to do that," Ratcliffe remarked, emphasizing the flexibility Druva provides.

Effortless Management: When asked to describe Druva in one word, Ratcliffe chose "effortless." The seamless deployment and hassle-free management have transformed the way CSET approaches data protection. The infrastructure team now spends less time on backups and more on driving innovation.

Druva has delivered a modern, reliable, and comprehensive data protection solution that meets CSET’s current needs while positioning them for secure and confident growth in the future.