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

Browser War Update, Including Mobile Numbers

You know every once in a while we take a look at the analytics to get a better picture of our audience base, and recently the spectrum has gotten a bit wider. In the early days of the Internet’s expansion it was Netscape versus Internet Explorer; today, it’s Mozilla FireFox, IE, Google Chrome, Opera, and several other varieties all vying for screen-space on our digital devices. What I want to do today is take a look at some of our internals and reflect on the current division within the browser space, and device arena as well — a very interesting segment of our numbers.

First we want to mention this data was taken over a 90 day period, so there’s a very large set here to extrapolate from. And though we know these numbers do not reflect the overall consumer or enterprise browser or device market, they do give us some insights into the broader picture. More after the jump…

… Continue Reading

Global PC Market Maintains Double-Digit Growth in Third Quarter

Despite weak results in some segments, the global PC market maintained strong sequential growth into the third quarter. In the United States, weak back-to-school sales, and a fatigued consumer characterized the environment. Japan exceeded expectations, with strong activity seen in the enterprise and SMB sectors.

Looking at Vendors, HP managed to grow 3% in the U.S., with channel issues in Asia/Pacific negatively contributing to an overall flat year. Dell grew close to 10% overall, with their emerging markets divisions keeping up pace. Lenovo  came away as the best performer out of the group, growing just over 31%, owing most of their performance to business renewal projects across all global regions.

Global PC Market Maintains Double-Digit Growth in Third Quarter Despite Weak Results in Some Segments, According to IDC

13 Oct 2010

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., October 13, 2010 – The global PC market grew 11% in the third quarter of 2010 (3Q10), nearly 3% below expectations. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, constrained consumer spending resulted in a tepid back-to-school season but commercial refresh remained largely on schedule and the overall market improved in September compared to the earlier part of the quarter. Moreover, the market still exhibited positive sequential growth over the second quarter which is the hallmark of third quarter activity. Shipments for most markets were relatively close to expectations, with Japan surpassing the forecast. The U.S. saw the largest difference with forecast growth, coming in at a 3.8% year-on-year increase, which was well below 2Q10 growth of 11.7% and 3Q10 projections near 11%.

… Continue Reading

Cloud Computing 10% of Spending on Outsourced IT Services in 2010

Cloud computing, also known as network computing, has reached a tipping point, where in we are now entering an industry-wide transition from properiety platforms to more open and ubiquitous frameworks. The pattern of change is not just taking place in North America, but from Asia to Africa, enterprises of all sizes are looking to develop public and private elastic infrastructures.

This means the race toward massively scalable, fully parallel systems, is heating up, and leaving the current stack in the dust. The market is seemingly deep in the early stages, so there’s a lot of headroom moving forward. The current estimates from Gartner Research put cloud spending at 10% of total outsourced IT services for 2010; which looks to be a healthy number considering the global economy.

The broader take away from information like this, is that when looking to define your strategy (even in a local market), you have to be aware of the global picture; you need to have a good idea of where capital is shifting and resources are being allocated — because those decisions will drive the predominate narrative.

Read Gartner for the latest:

Gartner Survey Shows Cloud-Computing Services Represents 10 Percent of Spending on External IT Services in 2010

Key Issues Facing the Cloud-Computing Industry to be Examined at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, October 17-21, in Orlando

STAMFORD, Conn., September 22, 2010 —

Cloud-computing services consumed from external service providers (ESPs) are estimated to be 10.2 percent of the spending on external IT services, according to a worldwide survey by Gartner, Inc.

From April through July 2010, Gartner surveyed 1,587 respondents in 40 countries to understand general IT spending trends and spending on key initiatives such as cloud computing. Participants were IT budget management professionals (CIOs, IT VPs, IT directors, IT managers, etc.). Four hundred eighty-four respondents participated in the drill-down on cloud computing and were asked how their organization’s current budget for cloud computing was distributed, as well as what their estimate was for spending next year.

“The cloud market is evolving rapidly, with 39 percent of survey respondents worldwide indicating they allocated IT budget to cloud computing as a key initiative for their organization,” said Bob Igou, research director at Gartner. “One-third of the spending on cloud computing is a continuation from the previous budget year, a further third is incremental spending that is new to the budget, and 14 percent is spending that was diverted from a different budget category in the previous year.”

… Continue Reading

IT Sales and Marketing Budgets Will Rise in 2010

It’s been just over three years since the beginning of the massive market selloff, but 2010 looks to be a solid recovery year for the IT sector. Research from IDC shows that executives are increasing their marketing and sales investments by 3.7% and 5.6% respectively. Also to note, traditional media ad spending has declined by 43%, and digital marketing is growing by 53%. The clear picture details a competitive space in transition, with tactics shifting along with revenue growth.

What does this all mean for the broader market? Expect to see more aggressive movement throughout all sub-sectors of the digital marketplace, from more XaaS (Anything-as-a-Service) offerings, to retooled appliances and mobile devices. So even though the gains may appear to be modest at first, least not forget that exponential returns are at play. Demand build-up is taking place, the key is to establish strategies early enough to be in a good position late 2011, or early 2012, once we start seeing significant movement in the unemployment rate for developed economies.

Again, this news is only supplementary, you must do your own research to quantify the numbers in your particular segment of the market. But it does reveal some truth about the macro picture, something which cannot be taken with a grain of salt, but must be incorporated into any operational strategy moving forward.

IDC Survey Shows Sales and Marketing Budgets Will Rise in 2010

21 Sep 2010

Tech executives face significant sales and marketing process challenges and opportunities

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., September 21, 2010 – The International Data Corporation (IDC) Executive Advisory Group forecasts that IT vendor marketing budgets will increase by 3.7% and vendor sales budgets (investment) will rise by 5.6% for the full year 2010.

Richard Vancil, vice president of IDC’s Executive Advisory Group noted some key trends and offered guidance for the tech executives. “The recession has brought major changes to the level and shape of marketing investment. At the macro level, overall investment is likely to lag revenue growth this year and this is the first ‘watch-out’ for executives, as our research consistently shows that marketing leaders tend to keep budgets in-line with revenue growth. The second factor is the major shift in the shape of the marketing mix. Traditional media spending has declined by 43% this year, and the category of digital marketing has grown by 53%.

… Continue Reading

Disk Storage Systems Market Ships 3,645 petabytes, growing 54.6% year over year.

What’s a good way of knowing how fast data is growing? Examine the external data storage systems market. Revenues so far have reached year-over-year growth of 20.4%, according to International Data Corporation (IDC). Total disk storage systems capacity shipped reaches 3,645 petabytes, growing 54.5% year-over-year. What’s clear is that demand is strong and consistent. The trick is capturing a portion of that demand by offering products and services that align with the best interests of customers.

In the Network Backup market we witness the economics every day, from across the globe, businesses of all types are beginning to understand the value of protecting their digital assets. What we try to do is make it easy for IT professionals to get into the game, enabling them to add additional profit centers to their revenue stream.

The takeaway from this research, and other reports out there, is that we are entering an era of tremendous storage growth, because factors at play in the IT industry, and macro-enviornment, are changing the way people do business — something we recognize and encourage.

Disk Storage Systems Market Sustains Strong Double-Digit Growth Across All Sectors in Second Quarter, According to IDC

03 Sep 2010

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., September 3, 2010 – Worldwide external disk storage systems factory revenues posted year-over-year growth of 20.4%, totaling just over $5.0 billion, in the second quarter of 2010 (2Q10), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker. For the quarter, the total disk storage systems market grew to $6.8 billion in revenues, representing 20.7% growth from the prior year’s second quarter. Total disk storage systems capacity shipped reach 3,645 petabytes, growing 54.6% year over year.

“The first half of 2010 showed continued signs of economic recovery in the disk storage systems market,” said Liz Conner, senior research analyst, Storage Systems. “The external disk storage systems market grew 18.6% from the first half of 2009 in terms of factory revenue and 3.0% from the second half of 2009. Although the first half of 2009 was extremely weak due to the economic crisis, the gain from a relatively strong second half of 2009 shows continued customer investment and importance placed in the storage systems market.”

… Continue Reading

Worldwide PC Microprocessor Shipments and Revenues Rise 2Q 2010

To understand the Information Economy, you have to put the right numbers into perspective. A major bellwether for both backup and storage industries is the silicon supply chain, because as the amount of compute cycles increases, so does the amount of data needed to be stored and analyzed. What is interesting is that if you look at the latest PC Processor report from IDC, you can see how the market is favoring growth for server and mobile product lines.

For 2Q10, total world wide PC microprocessor unit shipments increased 3.6%, and revenues increased  by 6.2%. Looking deeper into the numbers you will find systems makers bought more higher-priced PC processors for servers and mobile devices, while desktop processors remained flat. IDC is still firm on their forecast of 19.8% growth for worldwide PC processors in 2010. 2011 is not far down the path, but in terms of analysis it remains a wild-card year for sustainable shipment growth.

Though it is also important to point out that 3Q10 looks to be showing weakness. But considering the overall condition of the world wide economy, you have to expect some drawback as we move forward.

Worldwide PC Microprocessor Unit Shipments and Revenues Rise in the Second Quarter Compared to the First Quarter, According to IDC

Worldwide PC Microprocessor Unit Shipments and Revenues Rise in the Second Quarter Compared to the First Quarter, According to IDC

19 Aug 2010
PC processor vendors had a strong first half, but weakness emerges in the supply chain for 3Q10

SAN MATEO, Calif., August 19, 2010 – Worldwide PC microprocessor unit shipments and revenues in the second calendar quarter of 2010 (2Q10) increased 3.6% and 6.2%, respectively, compared to the first quarter of 2010, according to the latest PC processor study from International Data Corporation (IDC).

The average sequential change in unit shipments between a calendar year’s first quarter and its second quarter is an increase of 1.6%. For revenues, the average sequential change is a decrease of -2.8%. So, these increases represent better performance than usual for a second calendar quarter.

“Such a sequential increase in PC processor shipments alone would have been enough to conclude that the first half was strong for the market,” said Shane Rau director of Semiconductors: Personal Computing research at IDC. “However, a modest rise in revenues, too, points directly to a rise in average selling prices. System makers bought more and higher-priced PC processors in 2Q10 than in 1Q10. Digging a little deeper into the numbers shows that they bought more mobile processors and more server processors, while desktop processors remained flat.”

… Continue Reading

IDC: IT Spending Will Grow 5.2% Over Next 12 Months

The hardware refresh is underway, software sales are picking up, and service backlogs are building; all that from IDC as they publish the latest FutureScan figures. Judging from the overall trend line, buyer intent is steadily increasing at a faster pace than general market indicators. We look to be in solid recovery mode, with fears of a double-dip recession perhaps not in line with real expectations.

Of course, IT is only one aspect of the overall macro picture, but a very vital one. Looking at our own internals we have to agree with IDC’s estimation, as our model has been producing steady growth into 2010; we intend to build on those numbers Q1 and Q2 2011.

IDC FutureScan: A Mid-Summer Bump as Both Indicators Show Improvement

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., August 11, 2010 – The IDC FutureScan indicators for August both showed improvement over July’s results. Combined, the two indicators nearly match IDC’s latest Black Book forecast of 5.2% growth in U.S. IT spending over the next 12 months. In addition, the Buyer Intent indicator has caught up to the U.S. GDP growth forecast of 3%.

“From what we can see at IDC, there is still a major hardware refresh going on, software sales are starting to pick up, and services backlogs are building even if revenue is not,” said Stephen Minton, vice president, Worldwide IT Markets and Strategies at IDC. “Although the market indicators will continue to be challenged by weak revenue and macroeconomic growth, buyer intent remains healthy. Hopefully this will be enough to sustain the long, slow recovery.”

… Continue Reading