The Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) is dedicated to protecting the health and well-being of over 200,000 residents across 15 municipalities in a 5,000-square-kilometer region. Established in 1935, EOHU operates with a team of 250 professionals across six locations, delivering essential public health services, including:

  • Immunization clinics
  • Prenatal education
  • Smoking cessation programs
  • Health and safety inspections for restaurants, schools, nurseries, and long-term care facilities

EOHU also provides an extensive online video library and public service announcements, making it one of the few public health agencies in North America with an in-house broadcast and multimedia production facility.

The Challenge: Slow Backups Delaying Disaster Recovery

EOHU relies on critical IT systems to deliver essential services:

  • OnBase for client document management
  • Hedgehog for food safety inspection reports
  • Vzaar for video production

To maintain compliance with PIPEDA and PHIPA, safeguarding sensitive health data is crucial. However, EOHU faced slow backup performance during routine disaster recovery (DR) testing, putting cybersecurity and business continuity at risk.

The Solution: Veeam-Powered DRaaS by Opti9

To resolve these backup inefficiencies, EOHU partnered with Zycom and Opti9 (Formerly HostedBizz), leveraging Veeam Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS). The implementation of Veeam Backup & Replication delivered significant improvements in backup speed and reliability.

Real-World Results: Rapid Recovery from Ransomware

When a ransomware attack encrypted EOHU’s entire on-premises IT infrastructure, including backups, Opti9 restored critical systems in under two hours using Veeam replicas.

The fact this is a Canadian-based solution is essential for compliance with federal and provincial data protection  laws like PIPEDA and PHIPA.
Joanne Porporo, Manager of IT and Physical Resources, EOHU

Key Benefits & Outcomes

  • Fully managed, monitored DRaaS with industry-leading Veeam backup solutions
  • Rapid disaster recovery with Opti9 cloud in case of cyberattacks or system failures
  • 100% Canadian-owned data centers ensuring Controlled Goods Compliance
  • Data sovereignty with Tier III Canadian cloud infrastructure
  • Optimized security with continuous backups and best-practice 3-2-1 backup policies

Ensuring Canadian Data Sovereignty

EOHU’s data is securely housed in a 100% Canadian-owned Tier III data center, ensuring compliance with PIPEDA, PHIPA, and industry regulations. With high-security, redundant infrastructure, EOHU maintains full control over critical public health data, reinforcing data protection and disaster readiness.

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