Installation Review: VAR Primed To Take Remote Backups To The Masses

By Cindy Dubin, Business Solutions magazine.

Of those responsible for backups, 58% struggle with capacity requirements and the time it takes to complete and recover backups, according to a recent Storage magazine survey. Taking too long to complete a backup was noted by 46% of respondents, and 44% said the same about recoveries. The survey also found that some are easing the burden by implementing diskbased online backup. For 62% of respondents, they added disk to backup operations, while only a third added tape capacity. Perhaps the most prominent trend in 2010 in backup outsourcing was the explosion in the number of managed service providers promoting cloud backup solutions. Industry analysts predict the adoption of cloud backup solutions will rise this year.

VARs are in a great position to take data backup, especially remote backups, to the masses because their clients already trust them. And, handling sensitive data requires trust.

"We want to service clients where they are because too often businesses feel they have to bring a technology expert in-house," says Dave Redekop, cofounder of Nerds On Site, a VAR servicing small and midsize enterprises. "The smaller companies have entrepreneurial mindsets and require the same productivity and effectiveness out of their backup servers as do larger corporations."