Will 2013 Mark the Year When SMBs Jump on Online Backup?
SMBs will seek sophisticated online backup and data recovery capabilities in 2013, according to Zetta.net, a provider of backup/data recovery technology to the SMB market. MSPs should review Zetta.net’s predictions, as they indicate a potentially substantial opportunity to create or expand backup/data recovery service offerings.
Zetta.net goes as far as predicting online backup technology will become “dominant” in the SMB sector. This prediction is based on online backup systems giving SMBs access to better security standards, as well as speed and functionality, than they can achieve internally. And online server backup is only a fraction of the cost required for backup software, storage, support and offsite services – not including the time and resources spent managing multiple products and vendors. Of course, MSPs can tie together disparate products and vendors and deliver everything to an MSP in one neat, on-demand package.
Hybrid Backup 2.0 Opens New Possibilities
The emergence of what Zetta.net calls “hybrid backup 2.0” technology – replicated data in the cloud with a “lean local” copy of large database files without using physical backup appliances, will open new possibilities for SMBs seeking better backup and recovery. With data protection streamlined into a single solution, SMBs will no longer have to piece together an expensive solution comprised of multiple products from disparate vendors. This ease of deployment and affordability will lead to the mainstream adoption of integrated data protection among SMBs, which in turn will spur the development of cloud-based backup solutions.
MSPs Play Vital Role
MSPs have a vital role to play in this emerging new world of SMB online backup and data recovery. Even single-vendor hybrid backup 2.0 solutions still require SMBs to transfer all of their data, establish connections, maintain the solution, etc. This is all time- and potentially money-intensive activity that most SMBs would prefer to avoid. MSPs can step in and free SMBs of all the “grunt work” that goes along with implementing and utilizing even the easiest of solutions. In addition, MSPs can also give SMBs easy access to “best of breed” solutions that combine functionality from different vendors.
Obviously a provider of hybrid backup 2.0 technology like Zetta.net will benefit greatly if these predictions pan out, and to some extent the company may be trying to shape the future by publicly predicting it. But the basic premise is quite reasonable and this evolution is almost guaranteed to occur to at least some extent. MSPs should investigate ways they can lend a hand to helping the evolution along, perhaps even by investigating Zetta.net’s own MSP program.
One of the inherent challenges with online backup solutions is being able to retrieve that data in the timeframes necessary for proper business continuity. It's trivial to install an online backup solution and fire it up — Carbonite has made this all but a commodity. But how long does it take to retrieve? It was just pointed out to me the other day that my personal 'business server' backup is 15GB! How long do you think it would take me to download that 15GB backup over a 3Mbit/sec DSL connection? (The answer is more than 12 hours!)
The advantage to online backup, aside from its convenience, is its portability. So while it's not an optimal solution if the disk drive fails in the server, it's a great solution if the building burns down, or finds itself under 3 feet of water and the server, itself, is destroyed.
The best solution, however, I believe is a combination of on-premise backup and online backup. The on-premise backup server gives immediate access to that backup for scenarios like failed disk drives or deleted/corrupted files, but still provides the advantages of cloud-based storage. The on-premise backup server can be as simple as a repurposed low-end file server, or as sophisticated as System Center Data Protection Server.
Hey Lawrence: For readers who don't know you can you please disclose your company affiliation?
And yes: I learned the hard way that a hybrid solution is best. I back up to the cloud and once lost my hard drive. When I tried to pursue a restore the predicted download time ways days. Now I have local data protection, too.
-jp
Thanks for constructive comments Lawrence and Joe.
To clarify, Zetta.net's enterprise-grade backup and recovery is a hybrid solution with local + online backup that enables businesses to recover from the location that makes the most sense in the situation.
Also, part of what makes Zetta's solution “enterprise-grade” is the fast data transfer performance. For example, a customer who had a 2.7TB server crash was able to completely recover in less than 24 hours with Zetta. Case study here: http://www.zetta.net/case-study-gpa.php
Nick: Thank you for taking the time to share Zetta's perspectives. Please keep us posted as the company continues to build/evolve its MSP partner program.
-jp