Online backup technology provider Intronis has released a file sync and share offering called ECHOshare for channel partners to resell to small and medium-sized business (SMBs) customers, the company announced Wednesday.

Intronis ECHOshare integrates with the Intronis ECHOplatform data protection solution to centralize account management and billing for MSPs. It includes features such as team-based sharing, visibility and control, remote access to files, version control and mobile support.

“Intronis is all about data protection, and introducing a secure file, sync and share solution makes sense for the business and our partners,” said Neal Bradbury, vice president of channel development at Intronis, in an interview with MSPmentor. “It’s a natural fit for what we do and what our partners deliver.”

Intronis believes the file sync and share service extension creates new revenue opportunities for its channel partners by providing SMBs with an answer to sharing files and collaborating in a secure manner.

“First and foremost — it’s built for the channel partners to resell,” Bradbury said. “Second, it solves for the business challenge many SMBs face of using unsecured, inefficient workarounds for file sharing by enabling channel partners to offer an integrated collaboration solution that is easily added to the existing Intronis service or sold separately.”

He added: “It’s also a service that channel partners can make money on versus just supporting other apps and solutions for free as most have resigned to doing when a client downloads another brand directly.

Intronis isn’t trying to compete with other file sync and share solutions such as Dropbox, Box and Huddle. Instead the company is hoping channel partners will swap out existing solutions with its ECHOshare, which complies with HIPAA, SSAE-16 and PCI DSS.

“It’s enabling our channel partners to replace them with a file, sync and share solution they can sell, profit from and support, and that makes sense for the customer’s business — that’s a big takeaway,” he said. “Other solutions aren’t truly business-grade, are not easily managed and don’t offer the security and user experience you get with Intronis ECHOshare.”

This new market opportunity for Intronis aligns with its CEO’s vision of moving from a storage provider to a software company. “Our vision going forward is to be a software company, not a storage company,” Intronis CEO Rick Faulk told MSPmentor in July.

“We have a great roadmap for 2015,” Bradbury said. “More immediately we will be introducing more marketing and sales resources for our partners throughout Q4 — including new co-branded content, as well as awareness and demand generation campaigns featuring our data loss gremlins.”

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