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Data storage and security provider Acronis, which normally develops and markets its own products, announced Sept. 2 that it has acquired Amsterdam-based BackupAgent to bolster its cloud backup offering for service providers. Details of the transaction weren’t disclosed.
BackupAgent is designed specifically for managed service providers, hosting providers, telecom providers and cloud distributors to resell cloud backup to small and midsize businesses. Its platform is known for simplicity, monitoring, scalability and a long list of plugins, Acronis said.
The nine-year-old BackupAgent brings to the table an existing network of hundreds of active partners and about 50,000 customers globally.
A key part of Acronis’s cloud strategy has been to enable service providers to furnish complete data protection services to their customers, storing data in providers’ or customers’ data centers, or in a public cloud. Over time, BackupAgent’s solution will be powered by Acronis’s AnyData Engine, which will allow service providers to deliver these new-generation data protection features via a cloud backup to their customers:
–file-level and full-system backup for desktops and servers, for Windows, Mac and Linux platforms;
–backup of physical and virtual servers, supporting all popular hypervisors: Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware vSphere, Citrix XenServer, RHEV/KVM, Oracle VM;
–context-aware backup for business applications: Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, Active Directory, SQL Server;
–support of multiple-destination for data storage on-premises, in-service provider cloud, in Acronis Cloud, in public cloud, or in any mix of those destinations based on customer preference and sensitivity of data;
–a variety of backup and storage policies for data to ensure the required level of protection and compliance with local government requirements; and
–the ability to do disaster recovery in the cloud.
Service providers are able to deploy the cloud backup solution to their data centers, to customer data centers or use Acronis data centers and start selling the service with zero initial cost. This enables any managed service provider, hosting company or telecom operator to become a cloud backup provider.
According to a recent IDC study, 65 percent of SMBs already back up their data to the cloud. This need creates an opportunity for service providers to add additional revenue stream offering cloud backup services.