Open source backup and recovery firm Zmanda, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., wants Small to medium-size businesses to know there is room for SMB data protection in the cloud.

Because putting together a comprehensive data protection strategy can be difficult for midmarket companies, the company positions Zmanda Cloud Backup (ZCB) as simplifying the process. ZCB is aimed at small businesses that need data backup and disaster recovery for Microsoft Exchange and SQL Servers. The solution backs up the entire Windows environment to a public storage cloud, such as the Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3). ZCB uses GUI-based backup solution that allows Windows users to automate their backup and recovery process, backing up files, applications, databases, networked devices and Windows system state, including Active Directory, to Amazon S3.

“Zmanda Cloud Backup is the most complete Windows-based cloud backup solution on the market,” said Zmanda CEO Chander Kant. “It’s an affordable, pay-as-you-grow solution that provides users with the reassurance that backups of their applications and data are stored offsite, yet available anytime from anywhere with Internet access.”
The management console allows system administrators to schedule the extraction of backup data from live applications and the upload of backup archives to the storage cloud independently, streamlining the onerous task of backup operations on production applications and WAN bandwidth. ZCB can also be used to protect either a physical or a virtual Windows machine. The backups are stored in a native Windows format, giving users the option to access and reuse their files even without ZCB.

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Henry Baltazar, storage analyst at the industry analyst company The 451 Group, said system administrators who work within SMBs have extraordinary demands placed on them. ”While adequate data protection is of course critical for SMBs, simplicity, ease of use and reliability are equally important,” he said. “That’s why we believe SMBs will increasingly turn to secure offsite, cloud-based backup and recovery services such as Zmanda Cloud Backup to protect their business critical applications and data.”

The price for ZCB with a basic service level agreement (SLA) consists of a one-time $50 charge for each Windows server protected and a pay-as-you-go cost of $0.20 per gigabyte per month for storage used and data transferred into the storage cloud. Higher-level SLAs are also available for an additional charge.

As anyone running an enterprise-level company or an SMB knows, keeping files, applications, databases, e-mail and networked devices protected to ensure business continuity and compliance is a mission-critical aspect of business. Data protection can be time consuming because as a business matures and grows, the volume of data increases and newer and more complex data retention requirements are introduced.

A cloud-based solution such as Zmanda’s, working in an open-source architecture and tied to a scalable data storage infrastructure such as Amazon S3, gives midmarket companies another reason to seriously consider cloud-based services as a way to reduce costs and simplify the complex nature of data storage and backup for a growing small business.