Datto Drive File Sync and Share Service With ownCloud for SMBs

Datto, Inc. announced the launch of Datto Drive, a file sync and share (FSS) service, intending to disrupt a highly commoditized market.

“Current file sync and share services are overpriced solutions for small businesses,” said Austin McChord, CEO and founder of Datto. “Anyone who’s paying hundreds or thousands of dollars every month for FSS will immediately see Datto Drive as a welcome alternative. Priced at just $10 per terabyte per month for an unlimited number of users in an organization, Datto Drive is just one of many ways we’re empowering our partners to help small businesses run more efficiently and cost effectively. Better yet, we’re going to give away the first one million instances for Datto Drive for the first year for free.“

FSS is a critical service for SMBs, but current FSS providers are struggling to deliver the service at a price SMBs are willing to pay. The result is the widespread adoption of ‘freemium’ consumer services that companies attempt to stitch together to avoid the high purchase price. The company is taking a different approach by leveraging the low cost basis of the company’s 200PB private cloud, coupled with a global license agreement with ownCloud, Inc. in the FSS industry. The result is a superior value proposition for firm’s partners and their customers making Datto Drive more affordable.

“Datto Drive blows Dropbox, Box and Anchor out of the water in every way that matters to small businesses – price, features and ease-of- use. That’s great news for MSPs, too, because we can start relationships with customers based on FSS and grow to include backup, BC and more,” said Mark Calzone, president, Ash Creek Enterprises.

“We believe Datto Drive will be a catalyst to bring together thousands of MSPs with millions of small companies,” said R. Brooks Borcherding, chief revenue officer,  Datto. “Datto is constantly looking for opportunities to strengthen the MSP community and enhance the value this essential ecosystem delivers to SMBs. Datto Drive not only delivers a unique opportunity for Datto partners, but by protecting data at the file level, also serves as a key component to Datto’s total data protection platform.“

According to Gartner, “User demand is leading to enterprise file synchronization and sharing (EFSS) increasingly becoming a priority for organizations building a modern digital workplace. There is a growing awareness of, and pressure to use, EFSS capabilities in digital business initiatives to make employees, partners and even clients more productive and effective in their work. The growth of mobile clients, bring your own device (BYOD) programs and employee use of personal cloud storage services make EFSS an urgent priority for protecting information.” ⁽¹⁾

SMBs can sign up for Datto Drive and receive a year of free service. Datto Drive premium accounts are available for companies looking for increased storage capacity and additional benefits such as 24×7 support.

⁽¹⁾ Gartner Critical Capabilities for Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharing by Jeffrey Mann, Charles Smulders, Monica Basso. October 29, 2015.