Axcient Unveils Converged Backup Platform X360

Axcient’s David Bennett

Axcient CEO David Bennett is a dude who gets things done. In keeping with the flurry of announcements coming out of ConnectWise IT Nation Connect last week, the cloud migration solutions provider launched a new converged backup platform, Axcient X360, on the second day of the conference.

Bennett, who joined Axcient about seven months ago, had the oh-so-lofty goal of getting the solution ready in time for this year’s Connect event, despite being told it “probably wouldn’t happen.” It did.

See what we mean? Gets things done.

Axcient X360 is a converged backup platform for MSPs offering one experience for Axcient products and service. The new platform will provide single sign-on and a common user experience for MSP management of Office 365 backup, protected sync and share, and BCDR.

According to Bennett, people are used to using four or five pieces of security, having that layered security approach. In the backup world, people don’t think about that. Very few people will say, “We actually need a layered approach to be truly secure.”

There are several reasons for this. One is due to cost (people are pretty used to getting nickel and dimed) and the other is the semi-ridiculous spread of vendors and products it usually takes to complete a security solution.

“This was really about simplification, about getting an organization to think about the customer, as opposed to building pieces of technology that no one’s ever going to use,” said Bennett. “So the 360 platform was really that stake in the ground to say, ‘There’s a better way of doing backup, and here’s a way to go and do it.’ Now MSPs can use all of our products in one place with a common experience. With this new platform, our partners will have one experience to protect everything.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, 93% of the companies that experience a significant data loss are out of business within five years, and 80% fail within a year. However, the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration reports that 58% of small and medium-sized businesses aren’t prepared for data loss. IDC Research stresses that businesses really must have a backup strategy for applications, files/folders and Microsoft Office 365. Not having one is leaving businesses exposed, vulnerable to risks such as ransomware, accidental loss of data, lack of data control, compliance exposures and threats to business continuity.

Not. Good.

That’s the idea behind this platform. Bennett stresses that it wasn’t about reinventing the wheel. Rather, they took what was already there in terms of a solution needed to protect their clients and found a simpler way of executing it.

The platform provides the following new benefits for MSPs:

• One experience to manage MSP backup services
• Three backup services: Office 365 backup, protected sync and share and BCDR
• Unlimited storage and retention
• Simplified pricing and SKUs
• Supporting services, including billing, support, training and certification, co-branded collateral, campaigns and MDF
• Single sign-on for all services