One of New England’s major plastics extrusion companies chooses FirstLight for data backup/recovery along with redundant fiber connectivity
Albany, NY – January 20, 2021 – FirstLight, a leading provider of fiber-optic data, Internet, data center, cloud, and voice services to enterprise and carrier customers throughout the Northeast, and mid-Atlantic announced today that Keller Products, Inc. has selected FirstLight for its disaster recovery data backup solution.
Keller Products, part of the Keller Group of Companies, is a New Hampshire-based plastics extrusion company manufacturing specialty plastics for the aerospace, healthcare, military, automotive, and electrical industries, among others. Some of their specialty designs include biodegradable plastics, specialty tubes, customized nanotechnology, and glow-in-the-dark KelBrite.
FirstLight has been providing voice and Internet services to Keller Products for several years. According to Sean Donnelly, IT manager for Keller Products, Keller had an existing relationship with a disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) provider but wasn’t pleased with the speed of data recovery. Additionally, Keller needed to ensure data backup recovery for four different locations, so it turned to FirstLight.
“Plastics make the world go ‘round, and many of our customers require just-in-time delivery, so any kind of manufacturing stoppage is a big deal,” explained Sean Donnelly, IT manager for Keller Products. “Since our manufacturing operation relies more and more on technology and data, we need to ensure that in the event of any kind of system downtime, whether caused by ransomware, a power outage or surge, or natural disaster, that we have the ability to get back up at moment’s notice. FirstLight provided a demonstration of their solution, and it was just what we needed.”
FirstLight’s low-latency network, coupled with its Veeam-powered DRaaS solution, is used by numerous companies that require data replication and recovery times of just minutes.
In addition to providing Keller Plastics with a DRaaS solution, FirstLight also recently added a redundant fiber connection to Keller’s backup cloud storage at FirstLight’s Brunswick, Maine Data Center. Keller is also exploring the possibility of purchasing additional products from FirstLight.
“I don’t think there’s another IT provider that can supply us with the diversity and quality of IT solutions that FirstLight offers,” added Donnelly. “Our disaster recovery plan and redundant connectivity provide us with additional confidence to meet our customer commitments despite disruptions that may come our way.”
“Because manufacturers are increasingly dependent on data and end devices, they are more vulnerable to downtime events,” explained Kurt Van Wagenen, FirstLight President and CEO. “Disaster recovery is a must-have solution for companies that require their automated operations to be operating at peak performance with limited disruption. We take the trust that companies like Keller Products place in FirstLight very seriously, and we make it our mission to safeguard their data and ensure they’re operational as quickly as possible in case of a downtime event.”
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About Keller Products
Keller Products is a leading plastic extrusion manufacturer based in Manchester, N.H., and is part of the Keller Group of Companies that includes Kalwall and Structures Unlimited. For more than 40 years, the company has been manufacturing plastic extrusions, plastic extruded products, coextrusions, hollow profiles, recycled profiles, custom profiles and more.
