Most SMBs think online backup is too risky

Market research shows that small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are reluctant to use cloud storage because they perceive it as risky. These concerns stem in part from recent news that the popular cloud storage service DropBox does not offer secure storage, with encryption codes that are easily manipulated.

This is an opportunity for resellers to dispel beliefs that cloud storage is dangerous and perhaps offer a simple program to ease companies into online backup, or use a combined program of onsite and offsite backup.

For those SMBs that do utilize online backup, 70 percent of them also have a network attached storage (NAS) unit, according to recent data from In-Stat. XZ Backup offers both onsite and offsite storage, and resellers can give the best security and assurance by utilizing both. After all, there’s no harm in having data backed up in more than one location.

Offsite storage backup is a great way to store archived data that may not need to be accessed on a daily basis, although it is still easily available. For onsite backup, XZ Backup’s NAS storage appliance provides immediate onsite recovery, all under the 100-percent-transparent branded backup program.

XZ Backup’s reseller storage needs range from gigabytes to terabytes, with an average need of 40G of storage for a typical small business. Resellers now have a strong opportunity to market their branded backup to SMBs and demonstrate the benefits of keeping data in the cloud.

More U.K. companies storing data in the U.S

Many don’t realize that online back-up companies’ services can be utilized from other countries, and that doing so may save time and money. There are several key reasons for this trend:

1) Data center density laws in the U.K., which are not in place in the U.S., allow data centers in the U.S. to provide more power per server cabinet. This is more convenient for online backup resellers, giving them relatively limitless storage. U.S. data centers are able to provide five times the amount of power and five times the amount of storage per cabinet compared to data centers in the U.K. By being able to condense the data centers and use less real estate space, online backup companies in the U.S. are able to offer their services at a much lower price.

2) The currency exchange rate is presently in the U.K.’s favor. One U.S. dollar equals .61 British pounds – meaning that anyone living in the United Kingdom will pay £12 for every $20.

3) Although it may seem like the U.K. is a great distance from the U.S., in reality the countries are only a few fiber hops away in the electronic world. The ping time/latency from the U.S. to the U.K. shows relatively no speed difference than if the backup company were in the same country.  

Almost half of XZ Backup’s customer base is international, with a substantial presence in the U.K. XZ even provides its customers with a technical support/service phone number for London, so that the company is more easily accessible for both users and resellers in the U.K.

Iron Mountain’s online backup services are up for sale – who’s looking to buy?

Information management company, Iron Mountain, is reevaluating its digital business services by eliminating digital archiving, online backup and recovery solutions. The billion-dollar company’s strategic plan is to ‘enhance stockholder value’ by only remaining in the market where they have a leadership position to increase ROIC for stockholders.

Reasons for shedding themselves of their online backup services range from ‘modest levels of adoption’ of the services by customers, to not wanting to compete with the big dogs of storage, such as Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3) or Jungle Disk.

Iron Mountain’s CEO, Richard Reese, also mentioned the possibility of partnerships to continue to offer customers remote backup along with other information management systems. Reese said they are also considering repositioning themselves as a reseller - comparable to XZ Backup’s business model.

Iron Mountain joined the online backup world not too long ago in 2009 with Virtual File Store (VFS), a cloud-based storage system and shortly after introduced the Archive Service Platform (ASP), allowing users to integrate the cloud storage in its back end. Current users of VFS are invited to transfer to a higher value File System Archiving (FSA) by next year; however users of ASP will be required to move to a different service provider.

In consideration since fall of 2010, Iron Mountain’s restructuring gives other online backup companies an opportunity to position themselves favorably in the market. White label online backup providers such as XZ Backup, can leverage storage growth trends along with market restructuring and gain a new audience of online backup resellers.

Building an IT Brand

Branding is a hot topic – from personal branding (what you relay about yourself through your actions and communications), to branding a company or product (through marketing, public relations, and other avenues). Whether for a person, company, or product, branding is necessary to distinguish from the competition and stand out in the market.

And that certainly applies for the IT marketplace. IT consultants, solution providers, and value added resellers (VARs) need to communicate who they are, how they’re different, and provide their clients with a unique and dependable service. Vertical Systems Reseller recently featured a Q&A with Jonathan Fisher, COO of BrandExtract, on ‘The Key to Brand Recognition’ (full article below). Jonathan discusses the key for solution providers to stay competitive with the big IT companies: “Build a value proposition around the big brand” and show the client how valuable your service is.

One way for IT consultants to brand themselves and create added value is through white label online backup. Online backup resellers can provide their clients all the necessary IT services in a one-stop shop, including 100 percent transparent and reliable backup, under their brand name instead of the online backup company’s name.

This added service saves the client time and money and allows the consultant to charge premium pricing for premium service. And if the competition does not provide branded online backup, then you’re already one step ahead in the market.

Full Q&A from Vertical Systems Reseller:

The Key to Brand Recognition

4/5/2011

By Lisa Terry
Everyone knows it’s important to market their business. But what about branding? As the IT marketplace shifts to one based on services rather than product margins, it’s important for solution providers to emphasize their own brand over their software and hardware partners. VSR talks to a branding expert Jonathan Fisher, chairman and COO of BrandExtract, about how technology companies can build and sustain their brands.

What is branding?
A brand is a person’s perception of a product, service, experience, or organization.

The marketplace has something they want or need, and you have a product or service you want or need to provide. The art of branding is to make those overlap as much as possible. The greater you can align the perception with what the market truly needs, the more compelling. When they are aligned you build loyalty.

… Continue Reading

Electronic data laws create a need for online backup

XZ Backup's customer base in the U.S. vs. foreign countries

Online backup companies are seeing storage growth trends not only because of the exponential increase in electronic data, but also because of electronic data laws. White label online backup companies provide an easy way for businesses to comply with the federal regulations of keeping data available, easily accessible, transparent and auditable.

Here’s a super-brief history lesson on data retention: Government requirements to retain data started in 1966 (before cell phones, iPads and even desktop computers) with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which is still enforced today. The FOIA mandates that the federal government allow public access to its records with written request, unless the requested information falls under one of the nine exemptions.

You can imagine the amount of data the U.S. Government creates every day and how necessary remote online backup is for it to function and comply with the FOIA. In 2010 alone, the government received 597,415 requests for information.

More recently, the U.S. enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which requires all public companies to archive all electronic business records and communications to create transparent and auditable data and prevent corporate scandals.

The U.S. is certainly not the only country with electronic data laws; the UK, for one, has strict regulations in place. Although the majority of XZ Backup’s online backup resellers are based in the U.S. (56 percent), almost half of XZ’s clients are based in foreign markets (44 percent), many of which utilize XZ’s services in order for their clients to comply with data retention laws.

The UK’s extensive electronic data laws include requiring all emails sent by financial institutions be saved for at least six years, wages and salary information be saved for at least six years, and financial promotion information regarding pensions be saved indefinitely.

Convincing your clients to take advantage of remote online backup should be pretty easy once they realize all the federal rules and regulations required for financial and government institutions and publicly traded companies.

Data and storage growth trends – and how they affect online backup

The amount of electronic data in the world is constantly growing. We all know that. But many don’t know by how much. To give you an idea, 15 petabytes of new information is created every day. That’s equal to 15,000 gigabytes, or even better, 200 years of HDTV.

As companies grow and capabilities are enhanced, more data is created and requires more storage. As a result, storage companies are seeing storage growth trends each year, with 2009 bringing in $16.5 billion and 2010 topping off at $19.4 billion, an 18 percent increase that is expected to continue into 2011.

To meet the growing data storage demands of its customers, XZ Backup is in the process of building a 9,000-square-foot webcam data center with raised flooring and three megawatt power consumption, expected to be complete in December 2011.

For both online backup companies and online backup resellers alike, data growth is great for business. According to Promise Technology, there are a number of factors that affect data and storage growth, such as:

• Complex graphics, online videos, 3D animation, and smart phone capabilities.
• Business continuity and disaster recovery plans to minimize disruptions of service, ensure timely resumption of operations, and limit financial loss.
• Regulatory compliance policies and processes that financial firms have in place to ensure compliance with laws, rules and regulations, including requirements to retain data or records. 
• Medical industry standards for privacy and security of personal health data (HIPAA).

These government requirements and advancements in technology will only get more complex. Data will to continue to grow exponentially. And white label online backup companies like ours will continue to adapt to changes in the market, offering more storage and with the latest hardware and technology.

Ever thought of starting your own backup company?

Display of XZ Backup's growth- 112% increase in signups for March 2011 compared to March 2010

Data loss is rising. According to the IDC (International Data Corporation), organizations average 14.4 unintentional data losses a year – this can and is being prevented by companies utilizing online backup. A trend is apparent as the number of online backup resellers is escalating, and companies like ours are seeing dramatic spikes in growth, even over just the past year. (XZ Backup’s increase in sign-ups year-over-year is illustrated below).

For all the managed service providers, systems integrators, value added resellers, and internet service providers out there, you can help prevent your clients’ data loss with branded online backup – and the best part is: it’s simple, and you can start for less than $20.

XZ Backup is the only company that provides 100 percent transparent, white label online backup solutions with fully branded products and marketing materials, such as branded websites, including every aspect of the desktop software from the title bar to the splash screen.

IT consultants who utilize XZ Backup’s services have the ability to create their own pricing and terms of service and give their clients a newfound peace of mind knowing their data is secure.  

With the first ever World Backup Day last week (3/31), the risk of data loss could be more front-of-mind for your clients. Now you can easily expand your services and become a backup reseller providing a product that is 100 percent branded to your company. Did we mention: no branding fees, contracts, or the hassle of managing servers and software?

Let us know if you have any questions on branded online backup or want to give us a try – we’re happy to help you and your clients.

Disk Storage Capacity Shipped Reaches 5,127 Petabytes, Growing 55.7% Year Over Year

We’re in the storage disk market, let’s be clear. On a daily basis we’re hooking up new clusters, managing disk failures, and handling terabytes of bandwidth. One thing we’ve noticed in 2010 was the double digit growth, and it looks as though IDC has their ear to the ground as well. International Data Corporation reports World Wide Disk Storage systems finished 2010 with double-digit growth, and year-over-numbers reaching around 16%, but total disk storage systems capacity reached 5,127 petabytes, growing 55.7% year over year — astounding.

So where is all this data? Who knows, most of it is beyond the scope of Google’s crawlers, what some might call ‘dark data.’ The point though is that as developed markets continue to maintain at least some semblance of growth, the support needed to drive data capture will continue to take place.

For more information check out the article:

Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Finishes 2010 with Double-Digit Growth on Strong Fourth Quarter Results, According to IDC

04 Mar 2011

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., March 4, 2011 – Worldwide external disk storage systems factory revenues posted year-over-year growth of 16.2%, totaling just under $6.1 billion, in the fourth quarter of 2010 (4Q10), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker. For the quarter, the total disk storage systems market grew to just shy of $8.3 billion in revenues, representing 14.3% growth from the prior year’s fourth quarter. Total disk storage systems capacity shipped reached 5,127 petabytes, growing 55.7% year over year.

… Continue Reading

Worldwide IT Spending Outperformed Expectations in 2010, Reaching $1.5 Trillion

Depending on which magazine or website you read, the economy is either still in the tank or on its way to even more pain; but let’s see the truth for what it is in the IT industry, which is we’re officially back to business, building products, moving scale, and capturing demand for expansion of the digital universe — you can’t stop this kind of stuff. We’re seeing hardware upgrades, infrastructure investment (just look at the Data Center space), and globally the IT market grew by 8% year-over-year, to more than $1.5 trillion, according to International Data Corporation.

Hardware equipment, such as computer systems, peripherals, storage, mobile devices, and network equipment saw an increase of 16%, to more than $661 billion, the fastest rate of growth for hardware investment since 1996. Storage systems spending grew by more than 14%, servers 9%, and PCs by 11%. Software and services returned to positive growth, reaching 4% and 2% respectively.

… Continue Reading

167 Million HDDs for 88 Exabytes Shipped in 4Q2010

Still don’t believe data is growing? We caught this little tidbit from our friends over at the Storage Newsletter. The numbers are in, and according to TrendFocus, mobile HDDs are up 3.7% YTY, with Western Digital increasing its market share to 30%, Segate coming in at around 20%, and a total of 29.3 exabytes shipped in mobile HDDs during Q4.

Desktop HDDs were up 1.8% sequentially, to around 64 million in Q4 ’10. Average capacity rose from 655 GB to 755 GB, quarter-to-quarter. Total desktop HDD capacity in Q4 weighed in at 48 exabytes.

For Enterprise HDDs, the market reached above 8 million unit sales in Q4. Demand is holding steady, and shipments are back to pre-recession levels. Total capacity shipped reached 2.56 exabytes.

Consumer Electronic HDDs pulled back as expected because of seasonal patterns, with shipments dropping 6.4% from quarter-to-quarter. Nearly 8 exabytes were shipped in CE HDDs in Q4 ’10.

http://www.storagenewsletter.com/news/disk/trendfocus-hdd-4q10