Live from the Asigra partner conference in Toronto this week and the backup software company is already making news. Long known as a MSP and channel focused software vendor, Asigra has developed a strong reputation amongst MSPs, especially those in the SMB and mid-market. Today's announcement around software defined data protection (SDDP) at first didn't seem particularly noteworthy, until it dawned on me the potential for this type of business model in our profession.
There is a glut of software storage vendors in the MSP profession today. Many of these vendors are either delivering storage hosting services or bundling hardware. This makes sense for those MSPs looking for a complete solution without the need to source either a data center (i.e. Cloud) or the right hardware configuration. Asigra has a different perspective.
Asigra has long been a maverick of sorts in the data backup and recovery business. Never afraid to experiment with new and disruptive business models, today's announcement around SDDP plays directly into the strengths of MSPs and customers demanding more privacy, security, and flexibility around the how, where, and who questions frequently asked. MSPs are responding to more requests for cloud computing, especially in areas like data backup. However, it's not just cloud any longer, but private or hybrid cloud. Asigra is paying attention to this trend and making the necessary course corrections.
For MSPs are getting tired of having to use the hardware and data centers of their storage vendors. The ease of use of data backup, starting around the 2008 time frame, may have run its course and more MSPs need to have the flexibility of hardware and the location of where customer data is stored.
The natural limitations of data backup are primarily around location of the data and the parties having access to the data. The trend, at the moment, is to demand greater transparency, not less, around data backup policies. Asigra's SDDP, if successful, should offer MSPs the ability to have flexible and more transparent backup offerings.
The only remaining question is whether the MSPs will adopt this new model. We will see.
