Zmanda is connecting the dots between open source backup, cloud-based storage, Microsoft applications and managed services. Zmanda CEO Chander Kant told me a bit about the effort Thursday in New York. Here are some details.
Kant was in Manhattan to discuss Zmanda’s support of Sun Microsystems’ new open cloud computing platform — which is expected to compete with Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Simple Storage Service (S3).
During our discussion, we covered a range of topics including Zmanda’s:
- Channel and cloud strategy (updates coming soon on TheVARguy.com)
- Upcoming Ubuntu 9.04 Linux support (details on WorksWithU, the independent guide to Ubuntu)
- Managed service provider strategy
Zmanda and Managed Services So Far
Although Zmanda has only 50 employees, the company has 500,000 deployments. And Zmanda’s backup software protects both open source and closed source applications across Windows, Linux and Unix.
Now imagine this: As applications such as business intelligence or CRM shift to Amazon’s EC2 cloud, they will need some sort of backup service that either (A) lives in a cloud as well or (B) lives on a premise and backs up data fetched from a cloud. Kant says Zmanda will cover both items A and B.
Next up, Kant is polishing Zmanda’s MSP strategy. The big challenge is coordinating billing between:
- The service providers
- Customers
- Zmanda
- And a cloud service
“Who bills what to whom,” quips Kant?
Open vs. Closed Approaches: Pros and Cons
Proprietary systems such as Symantec Protection Network (which offers online storage) don’t suffer such challenges, since Symantec controls its cloud, the storage software and the billing system for VARs working with customers.
In stark contrast, Zmanda wants to maintain an open approach — plugging into multiple clouds and online applications, and offering open APIs for MSPs to add more value on Zmanda’s software. Those commitments give customers and MSPs more flexibility — but they also trigger the pricing/billing challenge.
Right now, notes Kant, Amazon will bill customers on a monthly basis, based on the amount of bandwidth and storage the customer consumed. Next up, Kant is working on a solution that will offer per-user billing that MSPs can coordinate with their customers. I don’t have deep details involving availability, but it sounded like a near-term effort.
Zmanda’s early success in Amazon.com’s S3 cloud and new relationship with Sun’s cloud make me believe Kant is moving fast in the MSP direction. But I know Zmanda is not the only cloud storage option for MSPs. Vembu, for instance, offers MSPs backup software that ties into Amazon EC2.
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Posted In: Managed Storage Services | Software as a Service and Hardware as a Service
Tags: Managed Storage Services | storage as a service | Zmanda CEO Chander Kant | Zmanda Open Source backup
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I reader just emailed me, asserting this piece was far too positive on Zmanda. Yes, I’m upbeat on Zmanda because the company has been disrupting traditional closed-source on-premise client/server solutions.
But I do have to eat some crow: The article above should have at least mentioned the following: Amazon points to three companies — Datacastle, Hyperic and EZasset — as early, fully-functional storage and/or management solutions that successfully plugged into Amazon Web Services.
In other words, Zmanda is sorting through some issues (such as SaaS billing as it pertains to VARs and MSPs) that other Amazon partners have already solved.