Info-Tech Research Group1 Vendor Landscape: Cloud Backup Match cloud economics with on-premise reliability.

Info-Tech Research Group2 The Cloud Backup Vendor Landscape is full of startups that are innovating and iterating. However, best-in-class solutions do exist. Introduction IT leaders and storage managers tasked with selecting an offsite, or cloud-based, backup solution. Any organization looking to reduce capital expenditure and administrative burden on backup storage, enhance disaster recovery capabilities, or simply looking to learn more about cloud backup vendors. Define what distinguishes enterprise-class cloud backup from consumer-grade solutions. Make sense of how cloud backup vendors differentiate themselves from competitors. Shortlist cloud backup vendors based on which best align with your business requirements. This Research Is Designed For:This Research Will Help You:

Info-Tech Research Group3 Executive Summary The enterprise cloud backup market is still very nascent, with the oldest participating player being founded in 2005, and most being founded after There are several basic features that define an enterprise-class cloud backup solution though, and the future for the cloud backup space looks bright. Among the products evaluated, CTERA, TwinStrata, and Nasuni took top honors and were named Champions. The solutions evaluated provide terrific value for what’s offered, with appropriate solutions available for small, medium, and large businesses alike between the three vendors. However, there are scenarios where solutions from other vendors are more appropriate, so defining business requirements, and aligning that with the use cases presented is still an important step in the nascent, but burgeoning, market.

Info-Tech Research Group4 Defining enterprise cloud backup: less reliance on the Internet, which improves the end user experience In a recent survey, conducted by Info-Tech Research Group, respondents indicated they had almost two times more “Complete confidence” in backup solutions that replicated to the cloud vs. those that backup directly to the cloud. The same respondents expressed more overall confidence in cloud replication solutions than disk-to-disk arrays. Though cloud backup vendors Info-Tech spoke to mentioned competing against Mozy Pro and iDrive, these are not business-ready options. An enterprise-class cloud backup solution must include an on-premise cache of recently and frequently accessed files to mitigate any issues due to inconsistent Internet connectivity.

Info-Tech Research Group5 Market Overview Evolved from traditional online backup - where you paid for an allotment of storage capacity and backed up servers directly to the Web to on-site appliances that compress, deduplicate, and cache data before replicating to the cloud. Enterprise cloud backup solutions are defined by the ability to keep an on-site cache of frequently and recently accessed data, while completing incremental backups or snapshots to the cloud. Currently a wide open space where few vendors have more than a few dozen clients, but those clients generate sizeable revenue. Commoditization of core cloud backup features is causing new service providers to differentiate themselves by specializing in niche markets. You’ll be able to access files from anywhere, on any device, making enterprise-class cloud backup as easy to use as consumer-grade services. A simplification of backup architectures as cloud storage, both internal and external, matures. The use of tape for archiving will continue to decline as enterprises re-assess and refresh their backup strategies. Cross-cloud mirroring will become an industry standard feature within the next two years, lending additional reliability and redundancy. How it got hereWhere it’s going Overall, disk-to-disk backup is the most popular backup target, with 62% of survey respondents saying they had recently implemented new backup capacity. However, the number of businesses deploying cloud backup was 15%; equal to the number of companies deploying tape.62% of survey respondents

Info-Tech Research Group6 Cloud Backup Criteria & Weighting Factors Vendor Evaluation Vendor is committed to the space and has a future product and portfolio roadmap. Strategy Vendor offers global coverage and is able to sell and provide post-sales support. Reach Vendor is profitable, knowledgeable, and will be around for the long-term. Viability Vendor channel strategy is appropriate and the channels themselves are strong. Channel Product Evaluation The solution’s dashboard and reporting tools are intuitive and easy to use. Usability The delivery method of the solution aligns with what is expected within the space. Architecture The five year TCO of the solution is economical. Affordability The solution provides basic and advanced feature/functionality. Features

Info-Tech Research Group7 Every vendor in Cloud Backup meets the Basic Features, but who goes above and beyond in the areas that matter to you? If Basic Features are all you need from your Cloud Backup solution, the only true differentiator for the organization is price. Otherwise, dig deeper to find the best price to value for your needs like cloud server mountable volumes, Web-based file sharing, The products assessed in this Vendor Landscape TM meet, at the very least, the requirements outlined as Basic Features. All of the vendors go above and beyond the outlined Basic Features, most even do so in multiple categories. This section aims to highlight the products’ capabilities in excess of the criteria listed here. The Basic FeaturesWhat Does This Mean? Backup frequency can be scheduled along with a set start and end time. Scheduled Synchronization The data center storing your data has successfully passed a SAS 70 Type II audit. SAS 70 Type II Certification Non-proprietary access methods like REST APIs, WebDAV, and FTP must be available. Standard Access Methods The service stores (and can automatically delete) previous versions of files. File Versioning Only changed files or blocks are transmitted after the first backup. Incremental Backups Data is encrypted while being transmitted to, and at rest in, the data center. 256-Bit Encryption Local Cache Storing frequently and recently accessed files on-premise to reduce bandwidth usage.

Info-Tech Research Group8 Basic Features aside, vendors were evaluated on their individual advanced feature offering What We Looked ForFeatures Info-Tech scored each vendor’s features offering a summation of their individual scores across the listed advanced features. Vendors were given one point for each feature the product inherently provided. Some categories were scored on a more granular scale with vendors receiving half points (see Partial functionality criteria). Advanced features scoring methodology: Bare Metal Restore Restoring servers without an underlying OS and applications installed. File SharingWeb-based file sharing via a hyperlink. Deduplication Recognizing duplicated files and storing just one copy. Data Compression Compressing the data before backup to reduce bandwidth utilization. Restore From Anywhere Ability to initiate restores from remote locations via a graphical user interface. Access From Anywhere Ability to access files from remote locations via a graphical user interface. Native File System Backing up and storing files in their native file system, without proprietary protocols. Cross-Cloud Mirroring Mirroring across geographically disparate data centers or multiple cloud storage providers. Agentless Architecture Backing up devices without software agents on each device. Service Level Agreement A contract with service availability guarantees. Bandwidth Throttling Controlling upload and download speeds to manage bandwidth usage. Cloud Server Mountable Volumes Cloud storage volumes can be mounted by cloud servers for quick DR capability.

Info-Tech Research Group9 How we calculated the cost An Info-Tech client provided a scenario for comparing the cost of cloud backup solutions in order to determine the value provided. The scenario presented included an existing SAN, being used primarily as a file server, which requires costly upgrades to increase the capacity. The current usage is 1TB out of the 1.3.TB capacity. Storage growth is projected to be 10% year over year, which was also factored into the five year cost calculation. Info-Tech Research Group used the Cloud Storage TCO Calculator to account for all possible costs including hardware, software licensing, data transfer and storage usage.Cloud Storage TCO Calculator Cloud backup solutions vary widely in cost Source: Info-Tech Research Group Cloud Backup Total Cost of Ownership Scenario Example graph from Cloud Storage TCO Calculator

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