Significant Rate Reductions for NBARS Coming October 1

Over the past year use of the NIH Backup and Recovery Service (NBARS) has increased significantly, as more users have found it convenient backing up desktop computers and servers. This increase in use—in conjunction with cost savings due to new hardware—will enable CIT to reduce the charges for NBARS by an average of 50% in the next fiscal year.

Rates Cut in Half and Data Transfer Charging Simplified

Starting October 1, these rates will be:

• File Storage
  $.00075 per file / per month

• Transfer charges

  $.015 per megabyte
        for the first 1000 megabytes
        transferred by a node in a month

  $.0075 per megabyte
        thereafter

These new charges mean that a user will pay only 75¢ per month to store 1000 files and that 200 megabytes can be backed up for just $3.00.

With the new version of the server software, the vendor has increased the cost of leasing ADSM software to the registered clients (see the previous article on the server software upgrade). To cover this cost the current minimum transfer charge of $2.00 will increase to $3.00 when the new server software is installed this fall. This change in the minimum transfer charge will mainly affect inactive nodes (i.e., nodes that do not transfer any data in a given month).

Most active NBARS clients currently transfer enough data each month so that the new minimum transfer charge will not affect their costs. Moreover the reductions—from the increased efficiency of client file storage in the new server software and the general rate reduction—should more than offset the change in the minimum transfer charge. In fact most people will see a significant drop in charges.

If you would like to learn more about NBARS, go to http://silk.nih.gov/silk/nbars or contact TASC.