Technologies has released the Service Provider Edition of Vembu StoreGrid, a data backup software that works with existing hardware. Built for IT service providers who wish to provide backup services, typically online backup services, for their customers, this edition will be exclusively offered through channel partners.

"We believe that value added resellers, managed service providers (MSP), ISPs, system integrators and other IT solution providers are in the best position to take data backup, especially remote backups, to the masses," said Sekar Vembu, CEO of Vembu Technologies. "They already have a fundamental asset - the trust of their customers. This is especially important as companies are in effect, trusting someone with safekeeping their confidential data."

Root Consulting Inc, an SMB/mid-market focused solution provider with offices in four US states agrees. They started offering data backup services with StoreGrid's Professional Edition and are currently migrating to the new SP Edition.

SEKAR VEMBU VARs, ISPs, SIs and solution providers in best position to take data backup, especially remote backups, to masses

"Each of our clients' requirements is different and StoreGrid's software helps us meet those diverse needs. We provide a fully automated online backup solution that backs-up critical server data as well as work stations and laptops. We've also deployed a staged backup solution leveraging on-site servers. We needed a solution flexible enough to cater to different network configurations and one that would scale with our business needs, which was addressed by StoreGrid," noted Bill Insull, GM-Root Consulting, Inc., Houston.

StoreGrid's SP Edition is expected to generate considerable interest amongst the MSP community. According to Charles Weaver, President of the MSP Alliance, a global organization made up of service providers and technology enablers advocating the 'Managed Services' model, "The demand for disaster recovery and other storage needs is only going to increase in the next several years. In order to remain integral to their clients,
MSPs must have a 'ready to implement' solution. Online backup is quickly becoming the standard, even for the smallest of businesses."

StoreGrid works on Windows, Linux, Mac and FreeBSD operating systems, and is perfect for disk to disk backups of various kinds: client-server backups, remote/online/off-site backups, and its own unique 'trusted P2P backup' configurations. With a basic server and some storage thrown in, a VAR/XSP can be up and running with online backup services in under 30 minutes.

StoreGrid's Service Provider Edition is one of its three editions on offer. While the 'Free Edition' is targeted at Soho and home users, the Professional Edition is especially relevant to the Indian SMB and enterprise market "where there is a severe dearth of good backup practices," says the company. StoreGrid's data backup solution is expected to reduce barriers to deployment as companies can, as required, implement it in a typical client-server scenario or leverage its Peer to Peer backup model to increase utilisation of their existing storage capacity.

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