Little British Battler, Plan B, is using virtualisation technology to create fast and cost-effective disaster recovery for its growing band of customers. In essence, Plan B’s technology captures snapshots of customers’ systems, which are updated and tested daily. In case of an invocation (e.g. a flooding at a customer’s offices), a virtualised duplicate of the system can be rapidly set up in Plan B’s data centre – and accessed remotely. Indeed, Plan B gave us a recent example of a customer that, following a fire, was able to access systems again within 40 minutes of invocation.
What we particularly like about Plan B is that with the exception of vSphere (for its virtualisation platform) it uses all of its own technology. Furthermore, the company is owned by its three Executive Directors, who have funded the firm through its formative years.
Not surprisingly, Plan B is particularly attractive to mid-market buyers who, over the past five years or so, have started to acknowledge the importance of investment in disaster recovery. Plan B’s customers are mostly spread across sectors, with something of a concentration in financial services. Plan B signed its first customer in 2009 and achieved EBITDA profitability the following year. Revenue is estimated to hit around £1m this year, but growth is expected to be substantial in 2014. In all, it’s an attractive offering from a firm that has developed strong financial footings. Indeed, Plan B is an excellent example of a Little British Battler!