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TOPS Internet Backup Service
Get the NEW
Backup Estimator and see for
yourself how cost effective this service really is!
Dear TOPS 2000™ User:
 When
I started TOPS Software, my goal was to provide software solutions
for property managers. In the seventeen years that we have
been in business, this goal has not changed. In fact, we have
expanded it. At TOPS Software, we want to be your
Total Management Solution Provider. By this
I mean that we intend to provide you with every tool that
you need to manage your communities. One of the reasons that
TOPS 2000™ has been so successful is this commitment.
In fact, TOPS 2000™ is known throughout the industry
as the most robust and technologically current property management
software. But I am not willing to stop here and rest on our
laurels. I intend to continue to develop new and improved
tools to make your job easier, and more efficient.
That is why I am so pleased to be able to present to you
our newest innovation: The TOPS Internet
Backup Service designed for users of TOPS 2000™
property management software to backup important community
data files through TOPS 2000™, automatically.
Click
Here to sign up now!
It Could Happen to You
Think of the TOPS Internet Backup Service
as insurance for your data. Just as you consider insurance
policies against floods, fires, storms, and theft a necessity,
so too is the integrity of your TOPS data. There are so many
things that can go wrong with computer data such as fires,
floods, and other acts of God. Additionally, your data can
be corrupted by power surges from a simple lightening storm.
A system crash, which eventually happens to EVERY computer
system, could also cause a devastating loss of data. Even
some simple user errors can have disastrous results.
These aren't just hypothetical situations, every
one of these disasters happened to a TOPS customer in
the past year (2002). The only way that you
can truly protect your data is to back it up regularly, and
keep those backups in a secure location. Unfortunately, many
of the customers who experienced these events did not have
a current backup at the time disaster struck. For this reason,
we think it is important to help you protect your data with
a simple, affordable, offsite backup service.
Last year, our senior programmer’s house was robbed.
The thieves passed up countless valuables and headed right
for the electronics: two stereo systems, a TV, two desktop
computers and a laptop. The thief was never caught, and the
stolen items were never found. Our employee was devastated.
You see, like you, he had put off backing up his data. All
of the projects that he was working on, all of his important
data, pictures of his family, everything was lost. The computers
and equipment were easily replaced, but the information
had to be completely recreated from scratch. I tell
you this story to illustrate that even the most knowledgeable
and technically savvy of us tend to neglect this basic need,
and doing so can have devastating effects.
Click
Here to sign up now!
The Science of Backups
Some think backups are a science. They work up elaborate
schemes to insure that important data can be recovered easily
without great expense. But it takes thought, expense and discipline
to make sure that your backups are available when you need
them.
- First, you have to develop a backup scheme. Keeping a
certain number of daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly backups,
for example.
(The TOPS Internet Backup Service
provides you with a number of predefined schemes to choose
from, or you may create your own.)
- You need to have a backup device, like a tape drive or
removable drive media that has adequate space to store your
backups. You need to have a number of tapes or media so
that you have multiple backups, not just one.
(With the TOPS Internet Backup
Service you do not need any backup device or media,
just a connection to the Internet.)
- You have to store the backups someplace safe. Backup
tapes on top of the desk next to the server are not going
to help you in the event of a fire. Some people store their
backups in a fireproof safe, but most agree that backups
should be taken off-site for maximum security.
(The files you create with the TOPS
Internet Backup Service are automatically stored
on an off-site Internet server, AND backed up to a server
at TOPS Software's corporate office.)
- You also need to remember to test your backups regularly.
It can become a critical problem to find out at crunch time
that your backup tapes are worn-out, have become magnetized,
or the backup program that you were using has been backing
up the wrong data and the backups you thought you had are
worthless.
(With the TOPS Internet Backup
Service it is easy to test your backup files. Simply
restore them to a new community ID. You could even run two
versions of community files concurrently to compare the
data.)
- Finally, you have to dedicate the manpower to perform
the backups. This means that you or someone in your office
has to remember to run the backup program each night, save
it to the correct tape, and then remember to take that tape
to a fireproof safe or offsite location.
(Setting up and maintaining your TOPS
Internet Backup Service is so easy, you could take
just five minutes to set it up, and then forget about it!)
Like many TOPS customers, I am certain that you had the best
of intentions when you started your current backup system,
but I am willing to bet that in the time since that system
was implemented, one or more of the steps above have fallen
through the cracks. Of course you know how important it is,
but you are busy and you are tired and you want to get home
to your family, and spending time performing a backup just
because something MIGHT happen is not time that you
have right now. Does this pretty well sum up how you look
at making regular backups of your important TOPS data? Believe
me, I understand the justifications that go on about skipping
the backups, the backups are just one of hundreds of things
you are responsible for, and it is easy to put it off until
later. I know because I am guilty of it too.
Click
Here to sign up now!
What It Is and How It Works
So what exactly is the TOPS Internet
Backup Service? It is peace of mind.
It is the comfort of knowing that your
data is always secure, and available to you at any
time, from any location. It is also the convenience
of automation. The TOPS Internet Backup
Service is fully automated. All you have to do is take
five minutes to set it up, and the system does the rest. Here
is what is involved:
- Select a backup scheme: TOPS
Software has developed a number of different backup schemes
that you can choose from to make backing up your data as
detailed as you want. If you do not like the predefined
schemes, the system even allows you to create your own backup
schemes.
- Define files to backup: Since
the backup program is fully integrated with TOPS 2000™,
the system makes it easy for you to define exactly what
you want backed up. You may choose to only backup accounting
files, for example. All you have to do is click a checkbox
next to the module sections that you want backed up.
- Define communities to backup:
TOPS 2000™ will display a full list of all of your
communities. Simply check the communities that you want
to back up, or click a button to check them all.
That’s it! Once you have performed these three
simple steps, your backup program is activated and
ready to use.
Based on the schedule that you set in step one, your computer
will connect to the Internet, compress the community files
that will be backed up, and upload those compressed files
to an offsite Internet server. Once per night, that server
is automatically backed up to a server at TOPS corporate headquarters.
This process of redundant backups is the hidden jewel of the
TOPS Internet Backup Service.
By storing your data on two different servers in two different
locations, TOPS Software gives you the extra assurance that
your data will be available to you when you need it most.
The TOPS Internet Backup Service
is more than just an online backup system. Since your data
is being backed up through TOPS, it is very easy to restore
just the files you need. In fact, you could even use the TOPS
Internet Backup Service as a method of sharing community
data between offices. Simply backup data from your main office,
and restore it to a remote office. Presto! Your remote office
instantly has the most up-to-date owner database, or A/R records,
and so on.
There are so many uses for the TOPS
Internet Backup Service , and so many reasons why it
will become the most important tool in your property management
toolbox. Don’t wait! Sign up for the TOPS
Internet Backup Service today! With prices starting
at $15 per month, the question is not whether you can afford
this service, but whether you can afford NOT to have this
service. Disaster is lurking just around the corner, are you
ready for it if it strikes? Be prepared with the TOPS
Internet Backup Service.
Click
Here to sign up now!
Get the NEW
Backup Estimator and see for
yourself how cost effective this service really is!
Sincerely,
Jeffrey S Hardy, President
Property Management Systems
dba TOPS Software
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