Online backup and disaster recovery solution provider Zetta.net has released a new management console and a new marketing program for managed service providers (MSPs). Zetta.net Vice President of Marketing Gary Sevounts (pictured) and Director of Channels Art Ledbetter gave MSPmentor an inside look at these new solutions and discussed the challenges of backup. Here's the scoop.

First, let's begin with the company's philosophy behind backup. MSPs have an abundance of options to choose from when it comes ot backup. Sevounts said there are cloud and software approaches to backup, but he believes that neither are the right approach. His company's method, a cloud native approach built with a standard base file system, provides a better solution for MSPs, he said. Zetta.net's solution retargets systems, instead of object-oriented backup. The system offers backup, archiving, disaster recovery (DR), and replication. Agents are installed on the IT assets that are backed up — no appliance is needed.

"We are finding that MSPs are losing money because of of appliances," Sevounts said. Because there are no appliances to install and service, MSPs can handle everything on a remote basis.  "Travel time takes money away from MSPs."

MSP Management Console tags onto Zetta.net DataProtect

The new MSP Management Console for Zetta.net DataProtect is multi-tenant and integrates local and cloud backup, archiving and disaster recovery. MSPs can manage customer backups and recover data from a central location, as well as provision new accounts and systems without traveling to customer sites.

Ledbetter said more than 50 percent of the company's partners are already using a management console.

According to the company, MSPs can expect the following features from the company's solution:

Zetta.net offers MSP marketing enablement and lead generation

According to Sevounts, Zetta.net developed a partner program more than a year ago, but the company is now beefing up marketing assistance to its partners through its MSP Marketing Enablement and Lead Generation Program. The company designed this multi-tiered support program for MSPs and based it off of Zetta.net's methodologies for increasing inbound leads, conversion rates and customer acquisition.

"We are assisting our customers with new generation of marketing to generate high quality leads for themselves," he said. "No matter what product you sell if you can't generate leads, it's pointless."

The MSP Marketing Enablement and Lead Generatation Program features the following levels of services:

 "We've eliminated outbound marketing, no cold calling," he added.