MSPAlliance Q&A with CTERA CEO Liran Eshel

What types of MSPs do you typically like to work with?

CTERA is 100% channel focused, working with a variety of MSPs and VARs across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific to provide ideal cloud storage solutions to SMBs and enterprises.

MSPs are used to backing up servers, what additional items can CTERA enable MSPs to back up?

CTERA leverages cloud storage technology to enable MSPs to offer an all-in-one solution that includes automated hybrid (local and cloud) data backup and recovery for servers running Apple iOS, Linux or Windows, but also for workstations and roaming laptops running either Apple iOS or windows – both file-level and bare-metal backup and restore are supported. In addition, MSPs can leverage CTERA to offer much more than backup including secure mobile access to files using iOS and Android apps, secure file-based collaboration, and managed NAS services – all while reducing capital expenditure and ongoing management costs.

How are the most effective MSPs being successful in delivering cloud storage to their customers?

CTERA provides a flexible hybrid solution, making the job easier for the most effective MSPs to tailor their cloud storage offering to their customers. Some CTERA partners offer all the services and hardware under one monthly fee. While others capitalize on the hardware margins up front and charge for each service separately. MSPs can offer multiple services under the CTERA solution, but they also have ultimate flexibility and choice of how to set-up the services with no cloud lock-in. CTERA is unique in that we are not a service provider ourselves and have no datacenter, we are a technology enabler that enables partners to make the most economical choice in how they deploy cloud storage, whether leveraging a public cloud or building a private cloud. Some of our partners have chosen the less capital intensive path of utilizing public cloud infrastructure, which provides a predictable margin and is easy to scale. Others chose to invest in object storage infrastructure to build their own private cloud, which does require some capital upfront, but also complete control and the promise of higher margins as they grow.

Many MSPs have diverse customers, in terms of size and specialty. How does CTERA help MSPs who have diverse and expanding customers?

CTERA’s flexible solution allows MSPs to address clients of all sizes from small businesses through to large enterprises, as well as across multiple vertical markets. CTERA provides a range of on-premises appliances supporting up to 24TB of local storage that are all managed by a single delivery platform. This hybrid approach allows customers to choose how much data is stored in the cloud with the ability to add additional cloud storage on demand. In addition, CTERA does not lock service providers into a cloud service, providing them the ultimate choice of backend storage whether public or private. We support many storage platforms including those by IBM, EMC, HDS, Dell and others, as well as public cloud storage on Amazon, Rackspace and others.

Where are we headed with cloud based storage and how can MSPs prepare their customers for that future?

The flexibility the cloud provides will change how business is done, with the words "IT investment" gradually disappearing from the vocabulary. MSPs have an enormous opportunity to become the critical IT partner to their customers by offering innovative services such as cloud-based storage, data protection and collaboration that are tailored to the exact needs of each company. We are excited to be working closely with our MSP partners to continue to enhance the CTERA cloud storage enablement platform, making it a more powerful and seamless extension of their IT infrastructure.