Datto, the backup and disaster recovery (BDR) company, is striving to raise its profile among MSPs (managed services providers) while also developing some positioning statements vs. potential rivals like Axcient and Zenith Infotech. A new Datto-driven website, called BDRfacts.com, attempts to offer “facts with no marketing or sales spin” about various BDR platforms. But a quick check of BDRfacts.com website shows that it contains key factual errors. It’s the latest chapter in a strange competitive showdown between Datto and Axcient.
Check Datto’s BDRfacts.com site for the BDR Comparison page. There, Datto says…
- Axcient’s cloud infrastructure platform leverages Doyenz on the back end. That simply isn’t the case, both Axcient and Doyenz re-confirmed to me today. In reality, I think it’s safe to say Axcient and Doyenz potentially compete on some fronts.
- The Datto site also suggests that Axcient offers a one-year warranty on hardware. But to the best of my knowledge, Axcient really doesn’t get into the hardware debate because they don’t “sell” hardware.
- Datto claims that Axcient leverages R-Diff backup technology. Axcient claims it doesn’t.
Multiple sources who have viewed the BDRfacts.com comparison page tell me it contains additional technical errors.
The Axcient-Datto competition is no stranger to controversy. Datto CEO Austin McChord wrote an open letter to Axcient CEO Justin Moore back in September 2011, claiming that Moore made misleading statements about Datto. Moore denied the claim.
Careful With the Claims
Of course, “vendor-neutral” comparisons can be incredibly valuable. And I know many MSPs are trying to get their hands around the BDR market, especially as Zenith Infotech navigates a bond default in India.
But Datto has to be extremely careful with efforts like this. Frankly, there’s no such thing as “unbiased” information on the web. Everyone — myself included — has a bias. Our biases are revealed based on the information we choose to share — or not share.
Equally important, when you share “factual” information it better be accurate. At this point, I don’t think that’s the case on BDRfacts.com. I’ve left a message at Datto to see if the company plans to make specific changes to the site.
Datto: Updates Coming?
In the meantime, I’ll give Datto the benefit of the doubt. The BDRfacts site certainly does not “attack” competitors. And the home page states: “Should any vendor find incorrect information on this site, please email corrections@bdrfacts.com and we promise to make the necessary corrections within 48 hours.”
Memo to Datto: The clock is ticking.
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Posted In: Cloud Computing | Managed Storage Services | Partner Program
Tags: Axcient | Backup and Disaster Recovery | BDRfacts.com | cloud backup | cloud disaster recovery | cloud storage | Datto | Doyenz
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Nice write up Joe. Hope Mark Perez doesn’t classify you as a “spammer” for writing this up
. I was planning on writing up the mistakes, but unfortunately, I was pressed for time, as I am in Cairo for some important meetings. Fortunately, you did a better job than I could have ever done. Scribe on Joe, scribe on….
O. out.
Hi Joe,
I’m the Product Director at Datto and I wanted to offer a response. The BDRFacts.com website that we launched is intended to be a neutral site that just provides facts, as it states. The information on that site is what we know to the best of our knowledge, but we are open to corrections from vendors. I invite our fellow vendors to review the site and correct us where we have misinformation because we really do want this to be as accurate as possible. As of yet, we have not heard from any vendors directly. If they find any errors in our data, they can email the correct information to corrections@bdrfacts.com.
If there are additional points of comparison they would like to see, we are open to that as well. By incorporating what our fellow vendors have to say, we will be able to remove the inherent bias that you mention everyone has. The reason we ask for corrections is because the site is intended to offer the facts, and we need the other vendors’ help to get there.
Thanks,
Karen
Karen@2:
Thanks for the update. I know many MSPs find Datto’s BDR solutions valuable, and many MSPs consider Datto a key business partner. But my personal opinion is Datto’s approach on the BDRfacts.com website is flawed and wrong.
Datto basically posted erroneous information about rivals, presented them as facts, and asked for corrections after the fact. Not a good way to generate credibility for the site.
And what about all the other BDR players in the market? You’ve artificially limited the conversation to Axcient, Datto and Zenith Infotech. But on the flip side, I bet other BDR players don’t want to be on the BDRfacts.com site because they run the risk of erroneous info surfacing. And ultimately, those third-party vendors can’t control the information that’s shared on the site.
Again, I realize Datto has done a lot right for the MSP market. I know you have numerous partners who value your solutions and the Datto business relationship. But the BDRfacts.com site’s execution is flawed. Call it was it is: A Datto marketing document that hasn’t been fact checked.
Osama@1: I’ve noticed a few corrections to the site, but additional Datto errors involving both Axcient and Zenith Infotech still exist as of 8:26am on Friday, Dec. 9.
-jp
Hi Joe:
Thank you for covering this. We have tried to get Datto to correct their false statements and continue to ask that they remove these inaccuracies.
Doyenz has no relationship with Axcient.
-Eric Webster
Chief Revenue Officer, Doyenz
Hi Eric,
We removed the association between Axcient and Doyenz as soon as we heard otherwise this morning. On behalf of Datto, I apologize for the inaccuracy. It has been corrected.
Thanks,
Karen
Hi Eric: Thanks for reading. I think Datto was/is trying to educate the market and I think the company’s motives were/are genuine. But I think the approach of BDRfacts.com — asking for feedback and corrections after the fact — is flawed.
Karen: Thank you for the update as well.
-jp
The problem with Datto’s approach here is their claim of “wanting to get things right” seems disingenuous. It’s a poor decision to post some hastily gathered information that benefits your company, present it as “fact”, hide your association from it, and depend on the cyber-community to do your fact-checking. There’s room in the marketplace for Datto, Axcient AND Zenith – market on your strengths, and be up front about how you present product data.
Hi Bruce,
Thanks for your thoughts. I don’t think Datto was hiding their association with BDRfacts.com. I just don’t think Datto took enough time to check the facts before pressing “publish.”
-jp
Joe,
You are correct on the multiple errors. My Company has been using Axcient products for a year now, and although I personally am not our expert, I do recognize some obvious errors on BDRFActs.com.
One being the hardware warranty of one year. You are correct, Axcient does not sell hardware. They are more of a HAAS model, so the monthly fee includes the hardware. Warranty is not part of the equation.
Also, they list the Axcient backup type as file based. While that may be true in their smaller models, their main product line – the Fortify series – is an image based solution. This is the only product we resell of theirs and the only product I have ever heard them talk about at events.
I agree Datto should be careful. As someone who knows the product line, I feel Datto’s attempt at “truth” has only tainted my opinion of them now since the facts that they got wrong were key ones people like me look at during our product research.
For those reading this article, Axcient offers a solid product. It is simple to manage, it does what it is supposed to do, and their staff if there when you need them. I would recommend Axcient any day.
Thanks for the story Joe!
Cohen Barnes – TBC Net
Hi Cohen,
I wouldn’t be too hard on Datto over this. My personal opinion is they wanted to educate the market while positioning against two well-known brands — and perhaps additional brands down the road. But the execution out of the gate wasn’t great.
On the one hand, I think it’s important that we covered the story because Datto’s social media efforts took some erroneous info viral. We wanted to let readers know about the errors. But on the other hand we’re trying not to sensationalize the situation. You’ll notice that we played the story low on the web site and moved along…
This isn’t a “huge” story. But it’s an important story about the power — pros and cons — of social media and viral information sharing. Once something goes viral you can’t really control the message. So the message better be right before you press publish.
Thanks for your readership.
-jp
It’s tough for an MSP to make a educated choice on whom to partner with when some vendors feel the need to spread FUD. For those not familiar with FUD – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt
Unfortunately, we used Datto at my former employer, it was a nightmare solution. Poor documentation, absolutely no partner training, support personnel contradicting each other, the list goes on and on. We stopped selling Datto and switched to Axcient after we had the opportunity to demo one of their units and expose it to the same environment/problems we experienced with Datto’s product, the Axcient passed with flying colors. Just prior to leaving that employer, we were in the process of doing a “rip ‘n replace” of all Datto products with Axcient, I’m sure they have competed this by now.
Axcient uses HP servers while Datto uses their home brewed SuperMicro servers. When selling a BDR solution to a client, HP will outsell SuperMicro hardware easily and it is more reliable. We had one client who initially had a 10TB Sirus which had numerous issues, related to hardware and Datto’s software. We replaced it with a 20TB Sirus due to the issues we were having and the amount of customer data had been miscalculated. We still had multiple issues with this “new” server and had to replace it with another 20TB Sirus within 6 weeks. I could go on and on with the issues that we had to deal with. My BDR experiences are only with Datto, Zenith and Axcient. I wouldn’t even recommend Datto to a local rival MSP.
My current employer was about to go with Datto before I joined their team but after sharing my documented experiences with Datto, he had realized that he almost made a mistake.
My opinion is Datto may have some good ideas but the way they go about implementing and supporting their products/solution is extremely poor.
Joe – re: your comment “This isn’t a “huge” story.” – well, obviously it is – when there are already 11 comments on the story AND about 33+ comments on the discussion group.
@JoeP – You hit the nail on the head, “But the execution out of the gate wasn’t great.” In my experience with them, they jump the gun way too often. They think they are being proactive when they are actually being reactive and not thoroughly thinking out what they are doing.
Datto reminds me of a high school girl who wants to be part of the popular group of kids at school and says whatever to get accepted by them. Eventually it will come back and bite them in the @ss.
The power of social media is a double edged sword. I have been mulling the idea of a Blog detailing all of the issues that I had with Datto. Over a thousand email exchanges with them (Datto) in a 9 month period, their is quite a bit that would make potential customers seriously reconsider.
Datto needs to focus on Datto, not spreading FUD. They are losing what little credibility they had.
@joe, 13 comments and growing…there is obviously a LOT of pent up frustration here. Maybe you should start a site called MSPtherapy.com.
@Wade, the high school girl analogy was beyond my ability to keep a straight face – I got in huge trouble with my spouse, laughing hysterically while looking at my Blackberry, just a couple hours after coming home from Cairo. Thank you Wade for making me look like the absolute worst husband in the world.
O. out (I had to sneak behind my family’s back to type this comment)
Datto’s just jealous