Acronis Backup as a Service To Move in Cloud

Acronis International GmbH announced Acronis Backup as a Service, a cloud backup and recovery solution designed to help service providers and VARs compete with global cloud companies.

The offering enables service providers to expand their data protection offerings, localise an automated backup service, grow recurring revenue, and kill churn.

“Local service providers need a differentiator to effectively compete with global cloud companies,” said Robert Amatruda, research director data protection and recovery, IDC. “Acronis Backup as a Service allows service providers to deliver a simple, complete and cost-effective backup service that can be customised to meet their local customer requirements.“

In a recent survey, TechTarget found that 55% of companies expect to increase cloud spending in 2014.

Backup as a Service empowers service providers to reach that market by requiring no upfront commitments and operating on a pay-as-you-go business model.  

The service can also be white-labeled or co-branded into their existing SaaS offerings for easy localisation. The flexible service makes it easy for end-customer by permitting them to designate various departments and/or roles involved with installing, activating, monitoring and backing up of data to the cloud and local storage destinations. Service providers also have the option to leverage Acronis Cloud Storage or their own local storage.

“Many customers are seeking a way to simplify their backup processes and backup as a service is ideal for diminishing costs and outsourcing the technical expertise,” said Lance Crosby, CEO and president, SoftLayer Technologies, Inc. “But many customers are concerned about the reliability, sustainability and accessibility provided by many of the solutions on the market. Acronis Backup as a Service leverages Acronis’ proven technology to give customers the assurance they need.”

Acronis Backup as a Service is powered by Acronis AnyData Technology and is managed by a central Web-enabled control panel, allowing service providers to fulfill their customers’ backup needs. The service includes Acronis Backup Advanced technologies for workstations, physical and virtual servers and applications. This image technology enables service providers with IaaS offerings to also build a DRaaS offering.

“With Acronis Backup as a Service, we’re chopping down the risks and traditional limitations of cloud backup by delivering a turnkey SaaS business model powered by Acronis’ mature and proven backup and recovery technology,” said Rene Oldenbeuving, GM, cloud business, Acronis. “Our usage-based service eliminates upfront investments, so costs only increase when revenue increases, giving service providers a competitive solution that puts them on equal footing with the biggest cloud businesses. Add in our proven image technology and you have one of the only file-based recovery and bare metal recovery offerings in single cloud solution.“

Additional features of Acronis Backup as a Service include:

• Re-brandable, localised cloud service hosted by Acronis from tier-3 data centres in Europe and the U.S.
• Support for Windows, Linux, workstations, physical and virtual servers, VMware, Hyper-V and other hypervisors and applications
• Usage reporting integratable into billing systems
• 24/7 dedicated technical support
• Service provider training, marketing and go-to-market support
• Service provider license agreement requires no minimum revenue commitments or minimum term