IT Service Providers Deploy Asigra Recovery License Model

Asigra Inc. announced deployments of the company’s Recovery License Model (RLM), a value-based pricing option designed to address the growing costs of backup and recovery.

Created as an alternative to capacity-based pricing (price per GB/TB), the RLM is a fairer approach that offers a low, limited recovery cost, so that expenditures remain predictable even as data volumes increase.

Backup costs are projected to rise because of the increasing cloud, social media and mobile computing generated data volumes that must be protected by organizations. According to a recent study by Winning Research, many organizations expect the cost of backup and recovery to go up over the next several years due to data growth. As a result, there is a willingness by organizations to switch to recovery-based pricing, showing that fear of cost growth is a strong motivator to transition away from legacy pricing models.

In response, cloud backup service providers have begun to implement recovery-based pricing.

Recovery-based pricing gives IT professionals the ability to better control backup and recovery costs, even as organizational data grows rapidly. With this approach, fees are based on a recovery performance score that is calculated over a 12-month period. A waiver is provided for the single largest recovery event in any licensing term and only successful recoveries are included in the calculations. This allows customers who recover less to pay less, and costs are capped so customers never pay to recover more than 25% of their data, providing a predictable cost structure.

“EVS Corporation has come a long way since its inception, due in part to the vendors we work with and the innovations we bring to market,” said Gayle Rose, CEO and founder, EVS Corporation. “The Asigra Recovery License Model is one such example that changes the competitive landscape and increases the value proposition for us and our customers. We applaud Asigra’s efforts and look forward to promoting the model throughout our areas of operation.“

Asigra Hybrid Partners bringing this new pricing to various markets:

• Blueshift Data Protection (Japan): Provider of cloud backup services delivering secure, off-site, disk-based, backup, recovery and archiving solutions for clients that include small, medium and large organizations.
• Databarracks Ltd (UK): Provides secure, Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Backup-as-a-Service and DR-as-a-Service from UK-based, ex-military data centers.
• EVS Corporation (USA): Offers backup, DR, and storage solutions for its clients as well as professional storage management and consulting services.
• OnDemand Recovery (UK): Provides a backup and recovery service powered by Asigra for businesses looking to protect business critical data offsite and into the cloud.
• Phoenix IT Services (UK): UK-wide infrastructure provider that enables CIOs to embrace and profit from megatrends that include the consumerisation of IT and BYOD, mobility, security, business resilience and the switch to virtual desktop – while assuring enterprise governance, risk and control.
• Progressive InfoTech (India): System integration company in the ICT domain, focusing on large projects to deploy enterprise solutions through professional and managed services.
• RestorePoint, Inc. (USA): Exclusively a Backup-as-a-Service provider offering managed and outsourced services to midsize and large enterprise companies throughout the US and Europe.

Asigra delivers a viable recovery-based pricing option for backup and recovery. The RLM is enabled by advancements in big data which provide data recovery analytics and insights that were not previously possible. The end result is what many experts agree is an evolving movement toward performance-based pricing that aligns with actual business value rather than inefficient capacity-based usage.

“While capacity-based pricing models are the norm, they are quickly running their course. This is because they don’t correctly match the cost of backup software or services to the value provided,” said Peter Groucutt, MD, Databarracks. “Our enterprise customers are conscious of the expanding investments driven by the influx of data and have expressed an interest in addressing these issues. With the help of Asigra, we are introducing a fairer approach to pricing while taking down the barriers to comprehensive end-to-end data recovery across all computing platforms.“

“The industry trends are clear and as a service provider we have recognised that data growth is making industry-standard licensing schemes unsustainable,” said Mike Osborne, MD of BC, Phoenix IT Services. “End-customers realize that legacy pricing structures are absorbing disproportionate shares of their IT budgets and actively seeking remedies to manage these challenges. Phoenix believes that as a service provider who can present a performance-based pricing model, we can gain an advantage in the backup and recovery space as the shortcomings of capacity-based pricing become apparent.“

Part of the technology enablement behind Asigra’s patent pending RLM is the Recovery Tracker. It institutes next generation data analysis utilizing metadata about data recoveries that take place throughout the IT infrastructure, whether from mobile devices or system servers. This tracker keeps precise accounting over data recoveries and provides information on why a data recovery took place. Some of many reasons identified by the system include specific endpoint device failures, software corruption, power loss, facility failures, human error and more. By keeping track of recoveries and their causes, it gives backup administrators the foresight to proactively take action where needed to improve IT efficiencies that directly result in lower backup costs.

“It is time to provide customers with a backup and recovery pricing option that connects pricing to actual results and reveals insights into computing system health to prevent data loss in the first place,” said Jeff Brathall, president, RestorePoint. “Asigra accomplishes both by focusing on the true value of backup (data recovery) and providing a dashboard to identify the root causes of downtime, whether from system failure, human error or a natural disaster.“

“Our customers have always sought to better understand their IT infrastructure and predict whether system reliability or user skill sets were in question,” said Brent Reichow, CEO, Blueshift Data Protection. “For the first time, Asigra is providing a window into this world that shines new light on this once unknown area. For customers, this not only provides the ability to reduce risk, it also re-capitalizes more strategic areas of IT with the savings they achieve.“

“At OnDemand Recovery, we take care of technology so that customers can take care of their business. This includes ensuring they get the most for their money by presenting solutions that justify their value,” said Mark Saville, MD, OnDemand Recovery. “The recovery-based pricing option by Asigra is a perfect example of this and IT buyers are showing great interest. We expect significant adoption of the new pricing model in 2014.“

“As computing environments evolve, cloud applications must adapt to these changes. Such a need is emerging in the backup space as pricing metrics no longer align with disproportional volumes of data,” said Eran Farajun, EVP, Asigra. “Organizations plagued by skyrocketing data volumes can realize broader data protection capabilities and immediate cost savings with cloud backup and recovery services that offer the Recovery License Model. We support our partners’ efforts in reducing the impact of data growth on their customers as the model gains traction.“