Unlock Data Vault Profits

2,100,000,000,000,000,000 bytes. That’s how much storage-as-a-service capacity will be used by 2012. Expressed in its unabbreviated form, 2.1 exabytes is imposing. But what may be even more remarkable is that it represents 65 percent growth over 2007 capacity, according to recent data from IDC.

The opportunity to deliver online storage services is clear. The incredible demand should prompt VARs and agents to consider partnering with a managed services provider, or even becoming an MSP themselves (see sidebar, MSP Made Easy).

Telecom agent Jack Zoblin, president of Cory Communications Inc., did just that, signing up as an indirect sales partner for Evolve IP LLC, a managed technology provider offering managed telephony, hosted applications, managed networks and network security services. The one-year-old company added its Reflection Data Backup and Restore service in September 2008. Zoblin already sold his first Reflection DBR deal and has three more on the table.

“With the Evolve IP, it’s so easy to make it part of the sale,” said Zoblin. “They are putting in the secure circuit. They are putting in the phones. They are putting in the router. And, by the way, they can do this, too.”

Like many other agents, Zoblin did not previously consider selling remote backup services because it was not in his “bailiwick,” instead referring that out to IT partners. Now, with Evolve IP’s holistic managed services approach, bringing it up with the customer now makes sense.

It also has door-opening potential. “It’s no different than saying, ‘OK, you are locked into your contracts for T1, but let me look at your conferencing bill,’” Zoblin said.

Zoblin said adding online storage services to a customer environment is non-intrusive, and with Evolve IP’s pricing, it’s a no-brainer even for companies that already are outsourcing their backup services.

Reflection DBR is priced at $10 per server per month for up to 2 gigabytes of storage included. There is a one-time $125 installation fee and each additional gigabyte is $3 per month. For PCs and laptops, the cost is $5 per month for up to 2 gigabytes, $3 per month for each additional gig and $20 for installation.

Rates for online backup services have been dropping steadily over the last four or five years, so that today market pricing is around $5-$6 a gigabyte, said Doug Howard, chief strategy officer for Perimeter eSecurity, which rolled out its Remote Backup & Recovery service in May 2008. He credits the price declines to reduced infrastructure costs, particularly storage disk costs.

Users can further reduce costs by picking and choosing what they back up. “In the past for digital offsite data storage, it was all or nothing,” said Randy Marshall, president of OMNI Solutions Inc.. “All the data had to be backed up and charged per gigabyte.” With people’s propensity to be pack rats, the usage charges can soar. OMNI Solutions offers a cost-effective solution to the problem called LAN Vault. The service, which was introduced this summer, allows users to back up all data locally on an appliance (basically a PC with a 200gig hard drive) and take a subset of the data — the mission critical data — and send it offsite to the data vault.