Whether you call it online backup or managed storage, the market for SaaS-oriented storage solutions is intensifying. The latest news involves N-able Technologies partnering with Intronis. But each time I check my inbox there seems to be a new pitch about MSPs and managed storage. Here are six questions MSPs should ask before making an online backup decision.
First, the immediate news: Intronis develops an online backup and recovery platform that MSPs can white label and rebrand as their own. The company’s software now integrates with N-able‘s N-central 7.0 remote management platform. Intronis inked a similar relationship with Level Platforms in August 2009 and ConnectWise in December 2009. Intronis also has a close working relationship with Virtual Administrator, which helps transform VARs into MSPs.
The Bigger Story
Several dozen MSPmentor 100 survey participants say they have embraced Intronis (our third-annual survey results will debut February 10, 2010). But there’s no doubt market competition is intensifying. A few examples:
- Asigra has lined up more than 500 partners and continues to push hybrid and cloud computing-based backup and recovery.
- Carbonite just raised $20 million in venture funding, potentially setting the stage for more managed storage competition in the SOHO market.
- FalconStor is quietly working with MSPs, including an MSP that bet its entire managed storage business on the legal vertical. I’m still digging for details.
- Kaseya is set to unveil a Kaseya 2 framework around January 25, 2010. It will include on-premise and SaaS offerings, including online backup, according to this interview with Executive VP Jim Alves.
- Seagate’s i365 business unit (formerly eVault) has introduced APIs that allow companies to back up their on-premise data to the i365 cloud.
- Storage Guardian is pitching “bare metal restore” capabilities to MSPs; the approach apparently allows MSPs to restore a customer’s operating system, applications, settings and data for an entire machine onto a new machine with different hardware than the original system.
- Vembu was among the first storage specialists to plug into Amazon.com’s Simple Storage Service (S3).
- Westview Capital Partners has invested an unspecified amount of many in VaultLogix, which is seeking to accelerate growth — though company executives say VaultLogix has been profitable since 2005, according to MassHighTech.com.
- Zenith Infotech earlier this week launched a special CPR program for its backup and disaster recovery (BDR) MSPs. Stay tuned for more details.
I concede: It’s difficult to keep up with all of the online backup industry moves. I haven’t even mentioned recent SaaS moves by Symantec and other big storage companies. If I overlooked any please send me an email (joe [at] NineLivesMediaInc.com) or post a comment.
Key MSP Considerations
Nearly 64 percent of MSPs already offer customers some form of managed storage, according to our latest MSPmentor 100 survey (complete results coming February 10, 2010). But for those MSPs who are still sizing up their options here are six key questions you need to ask…
1. Is the backup provider solidly profitable, well-funded and positioned to be in business for years to come?
2. Where does the customer data actually live? Does the location comply with SAS 70 Type II and other key standards?
3. Can the MSP rebrand the system as their own, and set prices on their own?
4. Does the backup and restore system integrate with key PSA (professional services automation) and RMM (remote monitoring and management) tools? What is the company’s open API (application programming interface) strategy?
5. What type of redundancy does the backup provider offer, and how quickly can customer data be restored in the event of a failure?
6. How often can the MSP test customer restores? Also, how often does the online backup provider test restores? And what are the best practices for such tests?
Next Moves
I can’t cover every angle or perspective in a single blog post. Let me know if I’ve left some holes. If so, feel free to fill them in via email (joe [at] NineLivesMediaInc.com) or the comment area.
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Posted In: Managed Storage Services | On Premise | Partner Program | Platforms | Professional Services Automation (PSA) | Remote Monitoring & Management Software | Software as a Service and Hardware as a Service
Tags: Asigra | Carnonite | ConnectWise Intronis | FalconStor | i365 | Intronis N-able | Kaseya 2 | Kaseya Jim Alves | Kaseya Online Backup | Level Platforms Intronis | Storage Guardian | VaultLogix | Virtual Administrator | Zenith Infotech
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Great, timely article. There are way too many half-baked online backup strategies. 2010 may be the year of Online Backup Lawsuit. It only takes a few prominent examples of data loss and the whole industry will have to address these issues.
Key issues are security (obviously) and ability to test your backups. If you can’t restore in a test, you won’t be able to restore after the server room is flooded!
Karlp: Thanks for the note. Ah, security. Hard to believe I wrote an online backup blog entry without mentioning security. Good catch.
Readers: I’ve received about 5 emails this morning from folks saying I forgot to mention a specific vendor’s solution. If there’s a company you’re partnering up with, please let us know. This market is massive and fast moving. We’ll try our best to keep watching all the players and their channel strategies.
-jp
We’re working with an awesome partner, vBC Cloud. They offer not just ‘backup’ but basically business continuity via servers. Replicate servers in the off-site cloud, so if the primary goes down, vBC Cloud auto-fails over to the cloud.
Over are the days of backing up DATA…what good does data do for you when you have no server to reload it on to? No apps, no OS! vBC Cloud replicates the server entirely and all for a low monthly per server, per month fee. No need for the SMBs and Mid-Sized guys to fork over the huge CapEx for their own replicated data center.
Check them out http://www.vbccloud.com
My name is David and I am with UpdateStar, the company which offers UpdateStar Online Backup, an online backup service with unlimited storage for home and business users with rave reviews from the press, which you can find on our website. http://client.updatestar.com/en/onlinebackup/overview/
Feel free to try the unlimited trial, freely downloadable from our website and ask our world-class support team
Cheers,
David Fischer
Support Engineer
David: Thanks for reading and disclosing your company connection. On the one hand we police the comments areas to try and make sure they don’t turn into commercial pitches. But on the other I do appreciate the fact that you came right out and disclosed your connection to the company.
Please make sure your PR team is sending news and briefing MSPmentor’s editorial team.
-jp
Joe who are you seeing as the emerging leaders with the highest penetration in the MSP/SMB market?