storagecraft

Just what will that relationship look like? Well, in the second quarter Kaseya plans to introduce a new module based on StorageCraft ShadowProtect technology, providing its on-premise and MSP partners with a disaster recovery and data protection solution for server and desktop environments that can also recover operating systems and applications.

StorageCraft’s ShadowProtect also offers failover to a virtual machine branded as VirtualBoot and a virtual converter to convert ShadowProtect backups into virtual machines.

Kaseya MSPs and other customers who already use ShadowProtect will be able to bring it under central management from the Kaseya web-based interface, the companies say in their official announcement.

Kaseya says the new module will broaden its strategic approach to business continuity and complement the Kaseya Online Backup, Kaseya Image Deployment and Kaseya Desktop Migration products available today.

StorageCraft Perspectives

But what does the deal mean for StorageCraft? It’s part of what looks to be an ongoing effort by the software provider to build out its influence with MSPs by partnering with complementary vendors, including a handful of remote monitoring and management providers. StorageCraft’s alliance partner page provides a look at its existing partners, including names like Level Platforms and LabTech Software.

StorageCraft’s VP of Sales Mike Kunz told MSPmentor in January 2011 about its plans to expand in the MSP market “creating an even greater channel presence and further increase its MSP-centric revenue by the second quarter of FY 2011.”

And StorageCraft appears to have grown since then. A few months later in May 2011 the company announced a new tiered storage partner program and rebates for MSPs.

“The change came about because we’re becoming a more mature company,” StorageCraft Channel Marketing Manager Aaron Lee told MSPmentor. “We have more partners so we have to classify them, and tiers make it compelling to make more money for the business.”

StorageCraft also partners with key players such as Artisan Infrastructure, which announced in December plans to connect MSPs with ISVs to offer a more integrated Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

So StorageCraft does appear to be making inroads in the crowded backup and disaster recovery market (BDR) by choosing key OEM relationships and other partnerships to target MSPs.