Axcient continues to pitch cloud backup services that don't require MSPs to deploy on-premises hardware appliances.
The pitch remains timely. Indeed, the coronavirus pandemic and work from home (WFH) trend inspired many small businesses to move more workloads to public cloud infrastructure (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform) and SaaS applications (Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Google Workspace).
Instead of routing SMB backups from employee homes to on-premises office appliances, Axcient's software directs the backups directly to the cloud.
Direct-to-Cloud Backup for MSPs
Indeed, Axcient continues to bet heavily on its x360 Recover Direct-to-Cloud solution. New features announced this week, the company says, include:
- faster and more efficient pre-configured disaster recovery runbooks;
- increased security through Single Sign On (SSO) and Multi Factor Authentication (MFA); and
- instant virtual export to speed bare metal restores, the company says.
MSPs that select that platform don't need to deploy on-premises backup or disaster recovery (BDR) appliances, Axcient is quick to emphasize.
On a related note, Axcient partners can beta test new local cache technology. Local cache provides a "fast, affordable, and reliable way to recover data locally with commodity storage to speed up recovery operations without an expensive appliance," Axcient asserts.
These latest capabilities surface roughly six months after Axcient hired Webroot veteran Charlie Tomeo as chief revenue officer (CRO). Tomeo is well-known across the MSP and SMB sectors, having built one of the first cyber-centric partner programs for MSPs. Axcient CEO David Bennett, on the job since February 2019, also is a Webroot veteran.
Cloud Backup, Data and Cyber Protection: Intense Competition
Admittedly, Axcient competes in an extremely crowded market -- filled with venture-backed startups, private equity-owned businesses and publicly held technology companies.
Despite all that competition, the growing market continues to attract more investment dollars. Examples include:
- Acronis raising $250 million in May 2021;
- Druva raising $147 million in April 2021;
- NinjaRMM raising $30 million in March 2020 and building out a BDR platform;
- OwnBackup raising $167.5 million in January 2021; and
- Datto launching an IPO in October 2020.
The overall health of the MSP data protection and business continuity market should become clearer when Datto announces first quarter 2021 earnings on May 12, 2021. In contrast to Axcient's direct-to-cloud business strategy, ChannelE2E will be listening to hear how the appliance portion of Datto's business has been performing, while also seeking more clues about emerging Datto technology rollouts.
During Datto's previous earnings call in March 2021, CEO Tim Weller said the company was preparing to beta test Microsoft Azure Cloud Continuity for MSPs -- Datto's first continuity product for applications running in the public cloud.
Eager to differentiate from Datto's various moves, Axcient continues to bang the drum for its direct-to-cloud option.
