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A new trend in SaaS applications has emerged in the online storage realm. Everyone from USAToday to CNN Money is recommending that everyday internet users engage in some form of off site document backup. One promising player in the on demand storage market is Mozy, which caters to businesses and individual users alike. Founded in 2005 in Utah’s burgeoning high tech market, they are owned by information storage company EMC. Mozy offers an enormous amount of online storage space for reasonable prices, charging as little as $4.95 a month for home users and different pricing structures for businesses. They even offer a free version with a 2 GB limit.

Mozy’s storage philosophy is composed of three tenets:

• You shouldn’t have to think about backup.

Backup should be set up once, and then work automatically

• Your files should be encrypted.

Your backup files should be encrypted and stored in a secure, remote location that’s only accessible to you — from anywhere.

• Your backups should be smart.

Your backup system should be smart enough to only back up data that’s not already been backed up, only back up parts of a file that have changed, and be able to back up open and locked files.

Mozy runs on a hybrid system, with backup done automatically using an installed software. Their website is quick to ensure users of the safety of their documents, offering layers of encryption and automatic backup for locked/open files and even Outlook folders. MozyPro and Mozy Enterprise, as the business versions are called, are even marketed to the health care industry, assuring HIPPA compliance with record storage by meeting encryption, security, and transfer requirements set by law.

Mozy’s success is partially due to their hands-off approach to backup. People want storage and backup to be automatic, like virus protection software. No one wants to spend hours figuring out which documents or files have changed, which need to be unlocked then relocked for backup, and how to use a complicated software tool. This service takes these tasks out of the hands of the user, and their software automatically locates and backs up files that have changed. Their testimonials from customers all point to the “lazy” factor, with one Jörn from Germany writing, “Mozy is great for lazy guys like me. My important files are updated, and I don’t do anything.” Their website also humorously points out alternatives to online storage, suggesting that the uninterested “Burn a new CD or DVD every Sunday night and store it at your brother-in-law’s office” or “Buy a $200 external hard drive and hope your office doesn’t burn down.”

Industry experts expect to see a growth in the popularity of online and on demand storage solutions. Both business users and home users are seeing the value of off-site storage for disaster recovery, and the prices for services like Mozy are competitive.

Monday, April 21st, 2008 You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

By Haley January Eckels