Zetta.net, which has a strong MSP business, can now make full server image backups directly to the cloud, without requiring an appliance or a staging drive.
Gary Sevounts, Zetta.net’s Chief Marketing Officer
Today, backup vendor Zetta.net is announcing its new DataProtect 4.5 cloud backup and disaster recovery solution, which can now make full server image backups directly to the cloud, without requiring an appliance or a staging drive. It can also recover to any physical or virtual environment.
Founded in January 2009 and with a senior executive team from a variety of backup and Internet companies, Zetta.net says it approaches the backup space from a different perspective.
“Companies who didn’t start in the cloud have been trying to figure out how to put the cloud around their backup, but the problem is that because it’s a different architecture, if you don’t start from the Internet perspective it won’t work as well,” said Gary Sevounts, Zetta.net’s Chief Marketing Officer. “Our solution is highly optimized for the Internet, with a very high speed of recovery, up to 5 TB directly from the cloud in 24 hours.”
This includes building WAN acceleration into the service, because without it, an appliance-less model would be useless because it would be too slow. Sevounts said the company has an install base of over 1200 customers, and that in the first half of this year, they had 279% more customers than the first half of last year.
Version 4.5 is the first SaaS-based service to deliver complete cloud backup and DR – from files to databases to server images – directly to the cloud, with integrated WAN acceleration.
“The key feature of the new solution is server image backup, where full server images can be backed up direct to the cloud for faster and more efficient backups,” said Chris Schin, Vice President of Products at Zetta.net.
“This is really the third stage of backup, after file-level backup and application-aware backup,” Schin added. “Initially we backed up file levels. From there, we moved to application-aware, database backup like SQL and Exchange. This sends the images in native Windows formats so they can be used immediately. In practical terms, it means after a disaster customers can start recovering their full server images immediately. This is the first SaaS-based direct-to-cloud image backups, without the need for an appliance or local storage.”
The solution is a purely internet-delivered one, with three components: a data centre infrastructure stored on a file system, housed in multiple data centers; the Zetta Mirror client, an agent, which is installed remotely on Windows, Linux and Mac OS’s; and a Service Management Portal, a centralized web portal.
“If there is a disaster, there is no appliance, which could be destroyed in it, so recovery can begin as soon as they have an Internet connection,” Sevounts said.
DataProtect 4.5 has also added several additional features. The new direct-to-cloud function extends to SQL and Exchange backups, which can now be streamed to Zetta.net’s cloud without requiring local disk space.
“These used to have to be stored somewhere in the local environment,” Schin said. “Now they are able to be streamed to the cloud, without staging on local storage.”
A two-factor authentication has also been added, using Google’s Authenticator, which requires both a password and a secondary verification code sent to a specified mobile device for login.
Zetta.net does a lot of business with MSPs.
“We have been working with MSPs for a while, and formalized our MSP program in 2012,” Sevounts said. “We have seen a surge of channel partners, growing 310% in MSP signups in the first half of year compared to last year, with their customers up 870%. We also have a very high 97% retention rate for MSPs.”
“We are popular among MSPs because we are one of the few vendors that does not require an appliance, so there is no upfront cost to roll a truck. MSPs can literally sit at home, boot up a browser, and install and configure new clients through the portal.”
