Axcient, which specializes in data backup and business continuity solutions for MSPs, saw its recurring revenues grow about 800 percent in December 2010 vs. 2009, according to CEO Justin Moore (pictured). So where is Axcient heading next with its managed services partner base? Here are a few perspectives.
Although the online backup, cloud backup and data protection markets are quite crowded, Moore claims only a few data protection companies serving MSPs actually innovate. He notes that a lot of backup companies license technology from OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) or third-party software companies. In contrast, Moore says, Axcient’s technology is home-grown, developed by the Axcient team and deployed on Axcient’s own back-end infrastructure to achieve SAS 70 Type II compliance. “To control the partner experience we need to control the back-end,” notes Moore.
To further improve that partner experience it sounds like Axcient is preparing a partner portal of sorts. (Stay tuned for more details.)
Axcient’s SaaS model also involves a local storage appliance that MSPs deploy at the end-customer site. The entire service leverages a flat monthly fee that scales up to 20 terabytes. Longer term, it sounds like Axcient is working on a model that may not require the on-premise customer device.
No doubt, Axcient is in growth mode. The company has about 40 employees and expects to end 2011 at roughly 60 or so employees, Moore estimates. Also, the top priority for 2011 is revenue growth — with Moore predicting 300 to 500 percent growth this year vs. 2010. Of course it’s important to keep those target growth figures in perspective: Axcient is privately held so MSPmentor doesn’t know the company’s actual top-line revenue figures nor do we know the company’s net quarterly income. As a relatively new company — Axcient’s first products went into beta around 2009 — the fast growth rates could involve a relatively small starting revenue base.
Still, 300 to 500 percent growth for 2011 is nothing to sneeze at. And it sounds like some of the growth will come from international markets late this year or perhaps 2012, as Axcient apparently prepares to push into Europe.
Of course, Axcient faces more than a dozen entrenched and emerging rivals. Competition in the online backup market is extremely fierce. I suspect we’ll see a shakeout in late 2011 or sometime in 2012, as MSPs standardize on fewer, more well-defined solutions. Moore agrees that a shakeout is coming, but he says Axcient will remain in growth mode because the company does its own R&D and remains focused on delivering a great end-user and partner experience.
We’ll be watching to see if Moore is right.
Sign up for MSPmentor’s Weekly Enewsletter, Webcasts and Resource Center. Follow us via RSS, Facebook, Identi.ca and Twitter. Check out more MSP voices at www.MSPtweet.com. Read our editorial disclosure here.
Read More About This Topic
Share This Post
Posted In: Managed Storage Services | North America | Partner Program
Tags: Axcient | cloud backup | Contingency Planning | Disaster Recovery | Justin Moore | Managed Storage Services | online backup
Interact: Add a Comment | Trackback Link | Permalink
Subscribe: RSS Feed
Take a look at our 
We are a brand spankin’ new Axcient partner. We tried a number of different backup solutions, including several well known cloud-based offerings, but found ourselves less than satisfied for a lot of reasons, but primarily revolving around performance and support. When we started looking to Axcient’s solution, our key technical and sales folks sat down and put together a list of “must haves” and “nice-to-haves” and evaluated Axcient based on those criteria. We were happy to find that not only were the critical needs addressed but most of the remaining requirements we set down where there, too. We may still be in the honeymoon phase of the relationship but we are very excited about the product and gratified to finally find a vendor that has delivered on their promises for online backup.
We are also new with Axcient. Checking out the solution to compare it to Zenith. So far we are really impressed. Great Hardware (HP), agentless, and simple to understand pricing model. I feel like they really care about how we use the solution and they seem to be very interested in our feedback. The Exchange brick level recovery could not be more simple to setup and the search functionality it has built in is very impressive. All in all it is highly polished and very easy to use.
I have a number of my partners who are working with Axcient and having a tremendous success upselling their current clients. I have been to the Axcients offices in Mountain View, CA to work with the team. I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that Axcient is dedicated to the success of their partners. I belive that because of this level of dedication, their partners will be more successful and why Axcient’s revenue is up.
Stuart Selbst
We have partnered with Axcient for about 6 months now and have had excellent results. Their product demos extremely well with prospective clients. It’s really been a “win win” for us, our clients are extremely happy with the solution and we are bringing on more recurring monthly revenue!
We are constantly looking for partner relationships that will strengthen our offerings and solutions for our customer’s and Axcient’s solution has proven to be a great offering. We feel we are truly helping our customer’s when they embrace the solution and it is easy for them to do so. Our experience working with the Axcient team has been fantastic and we look forward to a long partner relationship with them. They have been incredibly supportive and even sent a representative from CA to NY to participate in our press release announcing the solution in our area. All in all, we are extremely happy with the relationship.
We have partnered with Axcient for over 6 months and every client we have introduced them to loves the product. It is very easy to get prospects interested in evaluating the product and once they see a demonstration and the cost it is often a done deal.
CHIPS Computer Services (www.chipscs.com) a new Axcient partner offering their Disaster Recovery as a Service product in Minnesota. Axcient provides a great product and has dependable technical staff to support it. Our clients have been looking for a cost-effective Disaster Recovery plan and the Axcient offering is the way to go!