RSSCan EMC convince you to do online data backups?
By Jacqueline Emigh | Published January 22, 2008, 8:08 PM
How do you deal with backing up your data, especially when you're out on the road with your laptop? With today's announcement of EMC's MozyEnterprise, you can now encrypt, back up, and store your laptop or desktop PC data in a high security data center for not much more than $5 per month.
MozyEnterprise might finally be enough to convince even the most reluctant home users, small businesses, and enterprises that online backup and storage over the Internet is a safe, effective and maybe even necessary way to go, according to some industry analysts.
Built around Mozy technology gained by EMC through its $76 million acquisition of Berkeley Data Systems (BDS), EMC's new MozyEnterprise SAAS (software-as-a-service) offering will be deployed as a subscription-based service from an EMC-hosted data center for delivering back-up to laptops, desktop PCs, and corporate servers.
The pricing might act as another very effective motivator. For laptop and desktop PCs, the service costs just $5.25 per month, along with 70 cents per month for each gigabyte stored. Monthly pricing for servers is $9.25, in addition to $2.35 per gigabyte stored.
But although online back-up has been available for many years as an alternative to portable, desktop, and corporate backup devices, most of the early providers were basically unknown start-ups who didn't tend to inspire much widespread confidence, even among consumers, noted Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, in an interview today with BetaNews.
BDS, on the other hand, changed all that by coming up with the original Mozy, a system widely seen as so secure that it had attracted some 500,000 users -- including big organizations such as General Electric and Vanderbilt University -- by the time of the EMC buyout last September.
"Now, EMC's ownership of Mozy really puts a 'seal of approval' on the system for enterprise customers," King told BetaNews.
EMC's MozyEnterprise Service rolls together three BDC backup products -- MozyHome, MozyPro and MozyEnterprise -- while also adding several new security technologies contributed by EMC, including RSA authentication, authorization, and key management.
Meanwhile, more individuals and companies are actually coming to grips with the real need to perform regular data back-ups, even for trivial-seeming small laptops, according to King.
"There's some very critical data running on some of those laptops today," King said, pointing to a rash of horrific tales over the past few years about information lost forever -- or, at least, potentially exposed to the wrong people -- when a laptop goes MIA (missing in action).
Fears of outside data and application hosting are likewise starting to fade away, particularly with the success of SaaS practitioners such as Salesforce.com, the analyst told BetaNews.
And although EMC's corporate messaging might have been clearer on this particular point, Verizon Business -- a major name in data hosting, if not specifically in SaaS -- will be reselling rather than hosting EMC's MozyEnterprise.
Since my lousy ISP only allows uploads speeds of 28k, it would take days for a small backup, and months for a full backup. The idea is ridiculous, given that my downstream connection is virtually dead during uploads. Yet another reason amerika bites. Besides, why would I trust MY backups to someone/anyone else?
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|*laughing*
You crap-ass connection is everyone's, eh?
Sorry, man. Your situation != everyone else's. Just because you suck, doesn't mean everyone else does. Bandwidth is only an issue for you and Dial-up. :)
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|For all online backup and related info, I recommend this site:
http://www.BackupReview.info
This site has posted several articles about EMC and its online backup service.
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|Before I'd consider using an online service for backup, I'd want to know that everything I copy to their servers is encrypted with AES_256 and that they do not store my key on any of their boxes.
I know that makes it a bit of an issue if I were to lose the key I lose my data, but at least I know that some accidental crossing of wires won't allow someone else to gain access to my data. I had that happen with one company (can't remember whom).
I think I'd rather just buy a few external drives and make multiple copies.
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|It's better to back up to colocations or sites you own.
We all know what happens when you send it to Iron Mountain.. ;)
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|Iron Mountain = EMC, and this pretty much amounts to co-location.
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|bad idea.. talk about a setup.. EMC has deals with the government and can easily decrypt your data and find something they don't like and label you a terrorist. I always go by the rule that if you can touch it, it's your data, if you can't then it's not yours anymore..
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|Yeah... because they have nothing better to do than decrypt tons of data.
Did you drop your foil hat?
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|To backup 100 gigs, which isnt a lot for me, would be $75.00 a month. You could buy an external HD every month for that price and it would be larger then 100 gigs. Own a dedicated server with more then 200 gigs of space and pay $99.00 a month. So what exactly is the reason for this? I can understand 20-30 gigs.. but large amounts? Buy an external 1TB Drive and put it in a fireproof safe ;)
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|I agree with most comments here. Only those lucky enough to have Verizon Fios(or other symmetrical equivalent) will be able to take advantage of online backups.
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|I don't get it.
Does you system always puke after performing a backup?
The time it takes to back up really only matters if your system pukes right away. This won't be the case for most folks, so the speed really doesn't matter. Hell, idle bandwidth over weeks should be enough for most folks.
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|Various systems, everything overloaded & constantly changing-- connection, systems, hard disks... incremental only is still too much.
IF i had some sort of regular schedule, i could automate overnight-- but i'm on 24/7, catching a quick catnap here and there... so option to only function when computer idle is not too helpful.
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|Maybe i'm only looking at this from my side... but that and the price makes it a non-starter.
And it's been 4 years since the last meltdown... the only time ever...
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|Could it possibly be that this service might be targeted at the average home user?
Non-starter for you perhaps (and possibly altogether), but not because of the bandwidth "issue".
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|Can EMC convince me to do online data backups? If they can find me an internet connection that offers 100MBps upload speeds for under $50 per month then yes they can convince me to do online backups. Any slower and it would take forever to do a complete online backup of my system. I think I'll just pop an additional hard disk into my system and use that for backing up my data.
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|Even if it takes weeks to get a full complete backup, and thereafter only backing up changes, how many people are really going to need to do a restore in those few weeks?
I understand the complaint, but realistically, the upload bandwidth required should be minimal.
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|Maybe I'm cheap but this still seems like it is too much. I've been using Amazon's web services (S3 - simple storage service) and it is a lot cheaper, however it is not just something that consumers can use (the web services themselves are made for developers).
Still, I'm glad to see more companies doing this. I'm currently using xDrive which offers 5GB for free. Everything should be online!
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|http://www.jungledisk.com/
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|Data Deposit Box (http://www.datadepositbox.com/) has been doing the same for years for much cheaper and in real time. I have been very satisfied with their service. Set it and forget it. Saved my butt several times.
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|Well, with ISP's like TimeWarner talking about charging for overages on their unlimited service, I don't see how online backup or any online service that moves massive amounts of data as viable. Unless EMC can do something about the many who only have one choice in a high speed ISP, they might best stay with the rich corporates and forget about the home user.
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|The bandwidth limitations will likely only apply to downstream.
A backup service, unless used to restore (which should be infrequent?) is going to be mostly upstream. :)
But hey, feel free to knee-jerk wild speculation if it makes ya happy.
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|Looks like we have a sucker! P.T. Barnum would be proud.
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|*laughs*
Never said I'd use it moron, just arguing the notion that you'd need more bandwidth to use it.
I know you won't read this, you never do. Hit and Run trolling is all you're good at, and even that's getting weak.
These folks think they need higher bandwidth, I am simply explaining why they shouldn't. Try to wrap your head around that, just don't hurt yourself. I'd hate to miss that.
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