The function of backup remains critical for protecting applications and their data. However, many IT organizations have grown weary of the cost and effort associated with tape-based backup, including buying, handling, and storing tape media, as well as the budget impacts of replacing tape libraries and associated software licensing.

There is an alternative to the complexity of tape management and tape backup processes: Cloud backup. This white paper compares tape backup with options available for backing up to the AWS Cloud, and includes three reference architectures for using AWS to improve or replace traditional tape backups, on-premises tape libraries, and offsite physical archiving services. These cloud backup solutions leverage the durability, massive scalability, pay-as-you-go consumption, short retrieval times, and automated management capabilities of the cloud.