Managed Services, Backup And Recovery, And Networking News From December 2015
By The Business Solutions Network
Each month, Business Solutions reports news on business in the channel. This month in managed services, backup and recovery, and networking news, StorageCraft unveils ShadowControl v3.5, Ingram Micro expands its distribution agreement with Acronis, and PlanetOne launches the Cloud 411 Partner Program. In other news, Carbonite has entered into an agreement to acquire Evault from Seagate Technology, VaultLogix releases a long-term archive storage product, SYNNEX will distribute Atlantis Computing storage solutions, and CompTIA reports Big Data initiatives are delivering positive results for businesses.
StorageCraft Unveils ShadowControl v3.5
StorageCraft Technology Corp. recently announced the release of ShadowControl v3.5, a remote monitoring and management appliance for IT environments protected by StorageCraft ShadowProtect or StorageCraft ShadowProtect SPX backup and disaster recovery software.
StorageCraft ShadowProtect v3.5 has many new features, including three remote management capabilities. One, Push Installation, allows users to push install the latest StorageCraft ShadowProtect SPX or ShadowProtect 5 software to unprotected Windows or Linux endpoints from the ShadowControl management console. The second, CSV-Based Discovery, which, in addition to current hypervisor-based endpoint discovery, allows administrators to provide a CSV-based discovery list of physical or virtual endpoints that can be used to monitor and manage with ShadowControl. The third, Centralized License Management, automatically activates newly installed SPX or ShadowProtect 5 endpoints through ShadowControl by importing perpetual product keys into the license pool or by applying MSP (managed services provider) product keys generated through the MSP portal account.
Other new ShadowControl v3.5 features and enhancements include scheduled appliance backup support, the ability to generate certificate-signing requests (CSRs) directly from the ShadowControl appliance, the ability to lock SPX backup jobs to prevent modification or deletion locally, enhanced IT Service Management (ITSM) notifications, and improved ShadowControl appliance update instructions.
Ingram Micro Expands Distribution Agreement With Acronis
Ingram Micro recently announced it has expanded its distribution agreement with Acronis. Initially offered in the United States, the expanded relationship has extended the reach and availability of Acronis’ cloud data protection solutions offered via Ingram Micro to nine countries — Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom — with more planned. Additionally, the expanded agreement brings priority to the relationship in the United States where Ingram Micro now serves as the premier distributor of Acronis’ growing portfolio of data protection and disaster recovery solutions for virtual, physical, mobile, and cloud environments.
“What makes our expanded relationship unique is that Ingram Micro can now distribute Acronis software, broker Acronis services to cloud resellers, and sell Acronis cloud solutions to service providers — greatly extending our partner reach and value,” says Serguei Beloussov, cofounder and CEO at Acronis.
The Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace is an ecosystem of buyers, sellers, and solutions that enables channel partners to transform and grow their business by offering instant, online access to an array of cloud solutions from a single online portal. Through its automated platform, the Cloud Marketplace delivers management of the complete end customer cloud subscription life cycle.
PlanetOne Launches Cloud 411 Partner Program
As far as we’re concerned, there’s never enough good education for the channel. PlanetOne Communications recently introduced its new Cloud 411 program for its channel partners. The online education center and resource tool is a one-stop for all things cloud. “We worked with our top cloud providers to create a central online location to host the most recent and relevant cloud sales tools, training decks, presentations, and data sheets,” says Lauren Shapiro, president, PlanetOne. “Cloud 411 is a valuable resource that empowers PlanetOne channel partners with the knowledge they need before, during, and after the sale to create and capture more cloud services business. It’s also an easy way for our vendor partners to share with channel partners what’s driving demand for cloud services and how best to capitalize on it.”
Carbonite To Acquire EVault From Seagate Technology
Interesting acquisition news came late at the end of last year as Carbonite announced it had entered into an agreement to acquire the business continuity and disaster recovery business of EVault, a division of Seagate Technology, for $14 million.
EVault is a provider of business continuity and disaster recovery solutions designed for SMBs and small enterprises. Together with Carbonite’s line of data protection and recovery products for small businesses and individuals, the company will now provide a full suite of solutions for SMBs, a market estimated by Carbonite at $13 billion in the U.S. and over $40 billion worldwide.
As part of the acquisition, EVault adds its Cloud Backup and Recovery (a software-only solution for server backup), Backup and Recovery Appliance (the benefits of EVault Cloud Backup and Recovery with an appliance form factor for local backup and restore), and Cloud Resiliency Services (DRaaS [disaster recovery-as-a-service] services providing failover in the cloud).
VaultLogix Releases Long-Term Archive Storage Product
VaultLogix released its CoudArc long-term archive storage service, part of its Advantage hybrid cloud backup solution. “CloudArc adds the ability to archive important data that doesn’t change as often but still needs to be backed up and secure,” says Tim Hannibal, senior VP, cloud solutions, at VaultLogix.
“This last piece of the VaultLogix Data Prioritization strategy rounds out our complete hybrid cloud backup offering. With CloudArc VaultLogix has introduced a low-cost archiving solution that costs pennies per GB.”
Data Prioritization allows the client to decide what level of backup protection they would like different data to have, all managed from a single pane of glass. There are four main components to this Data Prioritization offering. For the most critical data that needs to be off-site, there is the VaultLogix Critical Cloud. For fast disaster recovery, VaultLogix provides clients the ability to store an image locally, at no additional charge. CloudArc provides clients with the ability to get less-critical data off-site, and the unlimited local backup gives clients the flexibility to store any number of files locally to a device of their choice for no additional charge.
SYNNEX To Distribute Atlantis Computing Storage Solutions
SYNNEX Corporation is bringing Atlantis Computing’s portfolio of hyperconverged storage solutions, including the Atlantis HyperScale turnkey appliance, to the North American solutions provider community. In addition to Atlantis USX Storage-Defined Software (SDS) technology, solutions providers can now order the Atlantis appliance, preintegrated based on storage requirements with Atlantis SDS technology, all flash storage, and choice of virtualization on the customers’ preferred servers from HP, Lenovo, SuperMicro, and — for the first time ever — Dell.
“SYNNEX’ integration services not only reduce the time to have our Atlantis hyperconverged infrastructure installed in data centers, they also provide a single source for solutions providers to procure it,” says Timm Hoyt, VP of worldwide partners and alliances, Atlantis. “By harnessing the simplicity of hyperconvergence, the power of flash storage, and integration with cloud, Atlantis is teaming with SYNNEX to drive down costs, accelerate application performance, and build resilience across the entire data center.”
Big Data Initiatives Exceeding Expectations
New research from CompTIA reveals that Big Data initiatives aren’t just hype, but they are delivering positive early results for the companies that have launched projects. A net 72 percent of companies that have self-reported launching some form of Big Data initiative say that their results have exceeded expectations, according to CompTIA’s recent Big Data Insights and Opportunities report.
As with most new technology undertakings, having the right skills can be a major hurdle. Big Data is no exception. About half of the companies surveyed say they currently have the appropriate level of Big Data skill, while the other half see skills gaps in areas such as real-time analytics, relational databases, and data security.
Organizations also express a willingness to work with third parties for help with their data initiatives. Over one-third of companies currently work with an IT firm for their data needs, though these engagements tend to be somewhat simple (data storage and data backup, for example). As companies become more aggressive with their data initiatives, IT channel firms may find opportunities to offer comprehensive end-to-end services around data.
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