Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3) is emerging as a default cloud service for backup and recovery products. Skeptical? The VAR Guy already told you about Vembu StoreGrid’s commitment to Amazon S3. Now, Zmanda — the open source backup system — is preparing S3 support. It begs the question: Will proprietary cloud storage services like the Symantec Protection Network (SPN) thrive?

First, a little background: The VAR Guy is obsessed with Amazon’s cloud strategy. Why? Because managed service providers and VARs keep asking him whether Amazon S3 and the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) are ready for prime time.

Bright Forecast

With each passing day, the answer becomes clearer: Amazon’s cloud is expanding. Fast.

Just last week, OpenBI — a consulting firm in Chicago — launched a business intelligence application in Amazon EC2.

Meanwhile, plenty of on-premise storage companies are tapping Amazon’s cloud. Vembu, maker of StoreGrid software that many VARs and MSPs leverage, has been particularly aggressive about its Amazon S3 strategy.

Now, Zmanda — which recently landed on The VAR Guy’s Open Source 50 list — is preparing a 3.0 product upgrade that will support Amazon S3, reports ZDnet.

Competing With Symantec Protection Network?

Hmmm. Linking Vembu StoreGrid or Zmanda 3.0 to Amazon S3’s cloud sounds a lot like Symantec’s strategy to link Backup Exec to the Symantec Protection Network, a proprietary cloud that has been gaining momentum with some Symantec Partners.

Still, Symantec faces an intriguing challenge: With so many different vendors offering on-premise storage software, it seems as if customers and partners alike want a vendor-neutral cloud storage service — like Amazon S3 — on the back-end.

If The VAR Guy was Symantec, he’d adjust the Symantec Protection Network to back up all types of on-premise storage systems including CA’s ARCserve — much in the way that a network server can communicate with all types of client devices.

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