Acronis, well-known for its family of backup, imaging and synchronization products, is opening up its APIs, allowing broad, third-party access to the Acronis Cyber Platform.

The platform, which is the foundation of the company’s existing services, features a series of APIs supported by software development kits (SDK) and sample code. Acronis is opening the platform with new open APIs, providing the kind of access that previously was available only to Acronis and select integration partners such as ConnectWise, Microsoft and Google, the company said.

By accessing the platform, developers can create new data sources, new data locations, new data management functionality, and integrate their applications with Acronis cyber protection solutions, the company said.

William Toll, Acronis‘ head of cyber platform marketing, tells us the growth in APIs and data that need to be protected, as well as the rules and regulations about where data is stored and how it is managed, is “at the heart of our announcement for the Acronis Cyber Platform.”

Acronis’ William Toll

“What we’re launching this week is our early access program,” he said. “It’s a very attractive ecosystem that we have, with 500,000 business customers, 5 million end users and 50,000 channel partners, that’s super attractive to ISVs and developers that can solve many more use cases and enable the channel with a lot more capabilities than what Acronis can deliver on its own.”

Now that the APIs and documentation are “strong,” and “the community in general accepts APIs as a valuable mechanism to integrate and extend solutions, we think the timing is just right,” Toll said.

“If we think about MSPs, and their desire to differentiate and help their clients solve business problems, technical problems, or address regulatory and compliance, they can do that if they have a vendor like Acronis and an ecosystem like the one we’re building with this early announcement to solve an additional number of use cases,” he said. “This will drive revenue and services, and potentially reduce churn. And that network gets a little deeper as MSPs and beyond offer additional services and add more value on top of data.”

Accessing the platform opens “tremendous possibilities” for third-party developers to address each specific cyberprotection vector or all five vectors (safe, accessible, private, authentic and secure) at the same time.

As part of this announcement, Acronis will change its product branding to reflect the growth potential cyberprotection presents to the company and its partner ecosystem.

“Acronis is a close partner and marketplace leader,” said Jeff Bishop, ConnectWise‘s chief product officer. “The company has held the innovation banner high in the fast-growing convergence of data protection and cybersecurity. We are excited to have a role in the Acronis Cyber Platform through meaningful mutual integrations, which will certainly elevate the end-user experience.”

MSPs have a chance now to extend their ability to provide services for an additional number of data sources, as well as help their clients meet requirements around, for example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and storing that data in different data destinations, Toll said.

“It’s about an ecosystem and solving more use cases, and making it simple and easy, and efficient for MSPs to adopt new sources of revenue, which is created on top of the platform via the APIs and the ecosystem that they build their solutions on top of,” he said. “For every $1 that Acronis generates on our platform, we believe the channel can generate over $5. That’s a pretty valuable ecosystem that kicks off [today].”