Acronis launches 'killer cloud app' for SMBs

Storage provider Acronis has launched a cloud backup service aimed at speeding up system recovery times for small and midsized businesses (SMBs).

Acronis Backup & Recovery (ABR) 10 Online has been updated to enable SMBs to recover quickly and completely in the wake of a full-scale IT systems outage, without the need for expensive dedicated offsite storage facilities.

David Blackman, general manager for Acronis in Northern Europe, said ABR 10 Online cloud backups had been designed for SMBs that typically back up to tape or disk that is then stored offsite or that have no offsite data protection strategy at all.

"Research we carried out earlier this year suggested two-thirds of SMBs would take a day or more to recover from a system outage," said Blackman.

"So now ABR 10 Online enables them to do the same backups they do locally online too."

With the new service, IT administrators can recover files, folders or even complete images of systems by building on existing Acronis local disaster recovery (DR) capabilities, as ABR 10 Online enables the agentless backup of data and virtual machines locally and online, according to Blackman.

Blackman added that existing customers could add the cloud service to existing local Acronis DR services, or use the online backup and DR facility alone. But it will have to compete in a growing market.

"There are a lot of services offering to do backup online, but most don't combine the physical and the virtual, with one management console. Neither do they offer bare metal imaging, alongside backing up files and data. So SMBs can restore systems from an old server, laptop and PC to a completely new one, for example," he said.

From a security perspective, customers can choose to protect backup data through AES-256 data encryption and user authentication.

"It's cost-effective for us to offer the highest levels of data security and protection at a very competitive price, where it's just too expensive for an SMB alone," Blackman said.

ABR 10 Online will be available through local Acronis channel partners from 12 October with a free 60-day evaluation. The service is charged on an annual subscription basis and is licensed per machine.

An ABR 10 Online subscription to back up a 250GB workstation will cost £33.59, a 1TB server will cost £299 and a 2TB virtual machine costs £659.

"The service will allow SMBs to sleep at night knowing their remote offices and workers, as well as central operations, are safe from system crashes, fire, burglary or anything else that could compromise data onsite – at the right price, and underpinned by a true cloud infrastructure," Blackman added.

"We believe it will be the killer cloud app for SMBs."