Barracuda Networks's data protection platform now supports public cloud replication to Amazon Web Services (AWS). The company says the solution will allow customers, channel partners, and MSPs added flexibility to choose between the company’s own Barracuda Cloud option and public cloud storage.
The Barracuda move surfaced amid AWS Summit in New York.
“I think for a lot of customers, as they look at building or managing an offsite data center versus leveraging the elasticity of one of the public cloud platforms, it makes a lot of sense to leverage that investment that Microsoft, Amazon, and others are making to go build out your infrastructure,” explains Rod Matthews, senior VP and GM, Data Protection Business, Barracuda. “Why build it yourself when those guys have already built out a pretty amazing thing?”
Barracuda Backup and AWS S3 Buckets
Barracuda Backup allows customers, resellers, and MSPs with the ability to replicate to their own AWS Simple Storage Service (S3) bucket – giving them the ability to choose where their data resides while also affording them control over their replicated backup data, the company says.
Matthews tells ChannelE2E that customers have been clamoring for an AWS solution of late. For most it came down to two reasons: Customers were already using AWS or they wanted better control of their data.
“They either want to leverage an existing AWS implementation where they’ve already negotiated pricing and they’re already managing storage in that location,” he says. “Or they just want better ownership of their data so they can have it in their account and control who has access to that data.”
Familiar Footing
Barracuda already is an AWS Advanced Technology Partner and has gained attention with its virtualized firewalls running on AWS, Azure and Google Cloud Platform. Those cloud services helped push the company’s total revenue in Q1 2017 to $94.2 million, a boost of 9 percent from the corresponding quarter last year.
According to the company, this release puts Barracuda in a unique class with AWS as one of the few partners offering security and storage solutions in two categories. Portions of the company's security portfolio involve Intronis MSP Solutions -- which Barracuda acquired in September 2015.
Explaining the company's continued growth, Matthews says, “Some of it’s been organic and some of it's been by acquisition, but we’ve built up a nice portfolio of solutions to solve problems for customers."
Barracuda began its life providing email security solutions. From there, the business evolved into email archiving and then onto the network security of virtual firewalls and web application firewalls -- which increasingly are MSP-centric solutions.
Competition Looms, Business Models Differ
MSP-centric backup platforms come in multiple cloud flavors. Rival Datto, for instance, backs up MSP customer data to the Datto cloud. While eFolder's portfolio (including Axcient) allows partners to back up customer data to a range of third-party or private clouds. Also, Continuum's BDR platform supports IBM's cloud, though the company can easily move or expand the service to other cloud providers. And Veeam essentially defers to CSPs to host the company's backup software on their own.
Admittedly, that's just a sampling of business continuity options across the MSP sector.
Additional insights from Joe Panettieri.
