Product Comparison: Backup And Recovery Software

By The Business Solutions Network

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We compare the certifications, pricing structures, and support of 10 business continuity solutions.

After multiple iterations of our annual backup and recovery product comparisons, you might think that there’s not much to report for 2017. However, due to the importance of such solutions; the ever-increasing data protection, retention, and recovery needs of customers; and the breakneck speed of innovation, there seems to be a lot to report with each version of this comparison.

This year, the field of products we’re comparing has settled into some familiar faces. If you see your favorite BDR product of choice not in this roundup, you can rest assured that we most likely attempted to include them. We’ve learned over the years that companies pass on participation for any number of reasons. Perhaps they have a new solution soon to hit the market and the timing of the article isn’t right. Maybe they’re in the middle of a merger or acquisition. With many factors at play and a field of products frankly too large to include in one article, we’re happy to include who we can, when we can. Chances are, next year’s comparison will
contain some of the products that don’t appear here.

The products included in this article include Asigra Cloud Backup and Recovery V13.2, Barracuda Backup-Intronis MSP Edition, Carbonite EVault Cloud Backup E2, Carbonite Server Backup, Continuum Continuity247, eFolder Replibit, Intronis ECHOplatform, SolarWinds MSP Backup & Recovery, Unitrends Enterprise Backup/Unitrends Cloud, and the Zetta Business Continuity Suite, which includes Zetta Data Protection and Zetta Disaster Recovery.

We’re also focusing on some different aspects of the solutions in this comparison. The included chart will still contain a good overview of basic features, but we’ll take a deeper dive on things like encryption, certifications, partner programs, and support.

Finally, it’s also important to note that, like our past comparisons, we aren’t looking to pick the best or top product here. We’ll deliver the facts, and you decide what’s best for you. So, let’s jump in.

Alphabet Soup: Encryption, Certifications

Many MSPs are vertically focused in markets that are regulated. In these cases, using BDR solutions that meet and exceed those regulations is imperative. We asked each of the vendors to tell us about their levels of encryption as well as to share details of any certifications they hold. The results are varied and require many acronyms to detail.

Asigra shared that its product has multiple encryption levels including AES 256 (32 chars keys). This encryption applies to data both in transit and at rest. As far as certifications go, the product has NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) 140-2-validated encryption.

Carbonite’s EVault Cloud Backup has 256-bit encryption, and the key is kept by user (not anyone at Carbonite). The solution is also HIPAA-certified. The company’s Server Backup solution provides 128-bit encryption and transport layer security (TLS) by default, with a 256-bit private key encryption option. This solution is HIPAA-, FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)-, and GLBA (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act)-compliant.

All Continuity247 backups are encrypted end-to-end, whether data is at rest or in transit. The data centers hosting Continuity247 are SAS 70/SSAE (Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements) 16-certified. This certification provides assurances regarding adequate oversight over the controls utilized in the processing of information and enables the Continuity247 service and storage infrastructure to serve as a foundation upon which end-customers can build their SAS 70/SSAE 16-compliant data processing and storage policies and practices. All said, Continuity247 has certifications for SSAE 16 SAS Type 2, Cloud Security Alliance, and HIPAA.

eFolder Replibit has 256-bit AES encryption on disk and 128-bit TLS/SSL encryption in transit. eFolder Backup for Files is currently HIPAA-compliant. The company explained that Replibit’s HIPAA compliance is pending internal audit following eFolder’s acquisition of Replibit in 2016.

For encryption, Solarwinds MSP Backup & Recovery relies on AES 128, AES 256, or 448-bit blowfish. Certifications include PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), ISO 27001, SSAE 16 SOC (Service Organization Controls)-1 Type II.

Unitrends includes backup both in flight and at rest using AES 256-bit level encryption.

Finally, both products in the Zetta Business Continuity Suite have SSL encryption in flight and AES encryption at rest. Both solutions are also ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations)-, SOX (Sarbanes–Oxley)-, and HIPAA-compliant.

It’s interesting to see that while encryption types and levels seem to be very similar across products, certifications vary. For VARs and MSPs working in regulated verticals, at least you now have an idea of which products might be a good fit and which are not. Still, if you don’t see the certification you’re looking for here, I would recommend asking the vendors yourself. Additional certification might be on the way or your prompting could be the motivation needed to pursue additional certifications.

Pricing Structures

Ideally, you’ll offer customers the best solution to fit their needs and one that makes financial sense for you to offer. Every MSP is in a different situation and willing to commit more or less to a product, depending on their needs. Therefore, we sought to understand the pricing structure of each of the solutions in the roundup. Despite our attempts to gather information as specific and detailed as possible, we weren’t always able to gather such data.

Asigra explained that its software pricing is on a monthly subscription basis, based on the amount of data backed up after it has been compressed and deduplicated.

Carbonite EVault Cloud Backup is also available on a subscription model, annual prepay or monthly, with one-, two-, or three-year commitments. Discounts are available as you move from monthly to annual and for multiyear agreements. There is also a discount on the price per gigabyte as you increase your commitment.

Similarly, Carbonite’s Server Backup product is also on a subscription model, with similar discounts and tiers like its EVault product. However, there are also two Server Backup plans. One is a single server with unlimited computer back- up, and the other covers unlimited servers with unlimited computer backup.

Continuum offers four different plans. Each is priced using a fixed, per server model with time-based retention. All packages include unlimited local backups. The local plan is priced per protected machine (regardless of size) and includes unlimited local backups only for each protected machine on the appliance, with no cloud storage. The solo plan is priced based on the live data on each protected machine and includes one daily cloud recovery point for each protected machine on the appliance.

The complete package is priced based on the live data on each protected machine and includes 15 fixed cloud recovery points in a 12-month period (five daily, three weekly, six monthly, and one yearly) for each protected machine on the appliance. Finally, the Flex plan is priced per protected machine (regardless of size) and cloud storage and includes an unlimited number of customizable cloud retention points for each protected machine on the appliance and pooled cloud storage.

For eFolder Replibit, licensing options include both an endpoint-based model and a storage-based licensing model. An endpoint-based license can optionally attach a cloud-bundle that includes 2 TB of cloud storage per endpoint in the eFolder cloud. The storage-based licensing model includes an attached unlimited cloud plan with either three- or 10-year retention in the eFolder cloud.

The Intronis ECHOplatform is available at a fixed cost per site. Intronis’ fixed monthly plans offer basic, entry-level data protection for as little as 100 GB, all the way up to 15 TB of data protection that includes unlimited local storage and unlimited devices per site. For SMBs with larger storage requirements (over 15 TB), the company recommends the Barracuda Backup Appliance.

As far as Barracuda Backup-Intronis MSP Edition is concerned, there is fixed monthly pricing based on the physical appliance storage capacity or, for the virtual appliance, the number of sockets protected in VMware.

Solarwinds MSP shared that its pricing is per GB or per workstation/server.

Unitrends sells physical appliances ranging from 1 TB to 180 TB of raw storage and software solutions that can be deployed as virtual appliances on-premises for VMware,Hyper-V, XenServer, or in AWS and Azure cloud providers to provide off-site backup or to protect cloud workloads. Unitrends offers five editions of its Unitrends Backup software that range from free to standard to Enterprise Plus. Each paid edition is priced on a per resources basis.

Zetta Disaster Recovery is priced per GB of cloud storage per month. Memory (RAM) to run virtual server instances is priced per GB per month. Active Directory Server is priced per virtual instance per month. Finally, there are additional charges for external IP addresses when there is more than one. Finally, Zetta Data Protection simply provides cloud storage priced per GB per month.

Support

For our last category, we chose to compare the support offerings of the vendors in this article. Ideally, you never want to have to test a vendor’s support, but when something inevitably goes awry, you want support there to help.

Asigra’s 24/7 tech support center is based in Toronto. Partners have access through the Asigra support portal to Asigra’s online trouble ticketing system, as well as phone support. Asigra’s partner portal provides sales, marketing, and technical support documentation that is freely available to be utilized by Asigra partners for customer sales, marketing, and support initiatives.

Barracuda says they, too, have live 24/7 support.

For Carbonite EVault Cloud Backup users with active subscriptions, 24/7 support is provided. Carbonite Service Backup support is available to all partners, seven days a week from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST.

Continuum Continuity247 comes with 24/7 fully managed network operations center (NOC) support, offering end-to-end backup management and backup failure troubleshooting, along with full disaster recovery support and NOC-assisted testing. The company’s NOC is based in India, with higher-tier escalations sent to a team based in Houston.

eFolder Replibit has free business hour support Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. EST via phone, email, or web. Critical support for emergencies and disaster recovery is available 24/7. The company’s support staff is mostly in North America, and members are distributed widely across the country and around the world.

For the Intronis ECHOplatform, the Intronis Partner Success organization combines onboarding, technical support, online training and certification, dedicated partner account managers, and a sales, marketing, and general business management enablement resource hub. Partner Success is based in Chelmsford, MA, and phone support is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST. Intronis also offers live chat support via its website from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday.

Solarwinds MSP provides 24/7 support via phone, web form, and a full knowledgebase. Support is located in Durham, NC, Scotland, Australia, and Belarus.

For Unitrends, partners can become certified to deliver level 1 or 2 support to their customers, while others rely on Unitrends to provide level 1 through 4 support. Unitrends has a support center based in Columbia, SC, that is operated 24/7 for phone, email, and chat-based support to customers worldwide.

Finally, with Zetta Business Continuity Suite, 24/7/365 U.S.-based engineer-level support is offered out of California.

Conclusion

Clearly, there are many factors that go into a BDR solution. Some of these factors are included in the table. Some you’ll have to investigate for yourself.