Datto unveils a virtual version of their data protection software that is easier for partners to use, and with the Azure cloud version now in beta, expect to soon have the virtual and cloud deployment options together with their hardware, all manageable through the same pane of glass.
Radhesh Menon, Chief Product Officer at Datto
Datto has launched what they are terming a reintroduction of their Virtual SIRIS (vSIRIS) data protection software. Delivered as a virtual appliance, this software-only version of Datto SIRIS is well-suited for specific MSP use cases, and is geared towards providing them with a more flexible deployment option, with fully integrated software running on the MSP’s own hardware.
“The capability of being able to get to a virtual version of SIRIS existed before,” said Radhesh Menon, Chief Product Officer at Datto. “What we have done here is make it easier, and have shrinkwrapped it as an offering. Before, we primarily had an imaged service for specific types of vendors, who needed to have a standardized version they could run as a virtual machine. Now, if they have a Hyper-V or ESXi environment, they can run this.”
vSIRIS allows the MSP to protect customers in private cloud and virtual deployments without the need to install Datto hardware – meaning that the MSP does not have to do an initial truck roll, or subsequent ones in the event of a hardware problem.
“The environment we optimize with this is really two scenarios,” Menon said. “One is MSPs who have significant private cloud real estate and want to leverage the hardware they have. The other is partners who have rich server environments. In both cases, Virtual SIRIS is well adapted to these slightly different real estate realities. It’s all about deployment flexibility. What we have done is make sure that the partner consumption experience is rich and wide.”
Menon believes that the use of vSIRIS will gradually expand because it is so well adapted for the Work From Anywhere environment.
“Not only their customers, but many MSPs are also working remotely,” he said. “How do you bring our offering to the broadest set of customers possible without having to visit them? That’s the driving factor here. The continuity between the physical, virtual and cloud SIRIS will be the same predictable service experience. Once, it was all about having an elegant piece of hardware. Now, it’s going to be a hybrid world, and you need a single pane to manage this hybrid reality. We are very excited to deliver that. Our longer-term focus is making sure that no matter where data resides, you have one repeatable way to manage BDR.”
That final part of the deployment portfolio, the public cloud, will be generally available later this year.
“The next frontier is cloud, and we are presently in beta of our Azure offering,” Menon said. “We will have our solution in the broad market in the calendar year.
“We don’t believe the Azure version will change everything overnight,” Menon pointed out. “Hybrid will be the way it all goes forward. We are still early in the game in terms of public cloud adoption and Infrastructure as-a-Service.”
Menon emphasized that vSIRIS delivers on a common request made by partners.
“We listened to them,” he said. “Having flexibility of deployment they told us repeatedly was important to them. They asked us to give them a way to deliver on the value proposition and still leverage in the infrastructure they already have. The early feedback has been very positive.”
