IT Security Journal recently had a chance to sit down with online backup provider, Intronis’, CEO and co-founder, Sam Gutmann.  In the late 1990s, while working as a small business consultant, Gutmann and his two colleagues discovered that many of their clients were not properly backing up their data.  In 2000, the three began researching and developing a backup service that would eliminate the need for tapes, disks, and CDs and instead would offer an offsite, secure, and easy-to-use backup service.  After three years of research, development, software design and testing, they launched their foundational product, eSureIT, in 2003 and Intronis Technologies was founded.  Gutmann is a graduate of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Management Information Systems.

Q: What is the history of how online backup and why it is relevant to the IT industry today?

A: Backup has existed since the first written word.  Think about it…all Egyptian scribes and medieval monks were in essence making backup copies of the original works while making copies of royal decrees and bibles. 

As mankind progressed from the industrial to the information age, backup evolved along with technology and our reliance on it.  For businesses in any competitive environment, timely information is a vital keystone to sustained business continuance. In effect, we have become so dependent on the information held within our computers that if we can’t access it, our worlds come to a halt.  For most SMBs, the information they hold electronically has the same or greater value as the physical assets of their businesses.  In short, they absolutely need to protect it.

Q: Why have online-backup services taken so long to be adopted?

A: In the past, many businesses, especially SMBs, realized that they needed to protect their data but viewed the available backup technology as very expensive and complex.  They compromised by backing up to floppies, tape or CDs.  Some even took their hard drives home every night.  That isn’t really a secure backup or a particularly good business practice.  Hence, the introduction of automated online backup services, like eSureIT.

Q: Who needs online-backup services and how is it used—from a professional consumer/SMB/enterprise reference point?

A: The need for backup is universal—from home users needing to protect digital photos and video, email and documents, to businesses of all sizes that are securing digital business assets such as client databases, research and financial data, business operating documents and intellectual property.

Q: What are the short falls of online backup and how can it be made better for data-retention—related applications?

A: There’s a lot of variety out there in terms of what online products offer.  Of importance to be considered, are cost, compression and encryption.  The value of the service can be determined by looking at: 1) the base cost of the product; 2) the compression ratio, which can increase the amount of data stored by a factor of 10; and 3) the strength of the encryption used while transferring and storing the data.

Q: Where do you see the market for online backup going and where do you see the technology being entrenched in the future?

A: Backup is already vital for most businesses.  The technology has become more accessible and costs have been dropping steadily.  The key now is packaging it all for users so that it is a) easy to install, b) automatic to operate, and c) ultra-reliable to recover and restore data.  The technology trend looking into the near future will be that secure online backup will be integrated into every computer, PC or server sold in North America.  This trend may find its way into other countries as well.

Q: What technical and operational hurdles need to be addressed before guaranteeing a successful backup model?

A: It’s really not as daunting a task as a user may initially think.  They need to make sure they have reliable, high speed access to the Internet.  Secondly, they need an inventory of what files and other data are critical to the survival of their business should some misfortune befall them.  For some businesses, especially SMBs, they may determine that they need to save everything.  Lastly, and most importantly, they need to recognize the necessity of implementing a backup strategy as part of good business practices.

Q: How and what has Intronis done with online backup?

A: Intronis has taken a practical approach to online backup by realizing that not all home users and businesses are alike and we provide a flexible service to determine their backup requirements at an affordable cost ratio.   

Our eSureIT online backup service is very easy to install for any users or organization.  We automate the backup process in a set-it-and-forget-it format so you never forget a backup.  eSureIT encrypts the data in a military grade algorithm to ensure a secure transmission and stores it in ultra-secure data centers located hundreds of miles from each other.  Lastly, eSureIT allows you to recover your data from any computer from any location if disaster strikes.

Q: What makes your technology unique; what are the barriers to entry?

A: eSureIT sets itself apart from other online backup products in its ease of use and efficiency of its compression technology. For instance, it is considered pretty standard that products, once installed, will backup data automatically on a schedule set by the user.  But the crucial question is what is being backed up and how is it being stored? 

eSureIT, after the initial backup, uses our Intelliblock technology for incremental backups—meaning that only new or data that has been changed will be backed up, saving storage space and time.  Furthermore, our data compression technology is some of the best in the business to help ensure complete privacy of the users’ data, using a military grade 256-bit AES encryption scheme. We can save the user money by compressing the data by a factor of up to 10, thereby conserving additional space.  Not all products are that efficient and some offer no compression at all.

Q: Where do you see the market going for this type of service?

A: It’s pretty clear that online backup is a requirement for businesses, especially SMBs who live and die by their data.  They just can’t survive a data loss.  Home users are becoming more aware of the need now that they are keeping more of their lives in digital form—financial information, emails, digital photos, contact lists, etc.  Intronis sees backup as an essential application for every user, no different than MS Office or other basic applications.

Q: There are a number of recent advances in data de-duplication, disaster-recovery software, DLM/ILM, etc.—do you see these types of software value-adds being integrated into online backup services?

A: Intronis’ view towards storage space conservation, immediate data restoration, data lifecycle management and total cost of ownership is that they are not value-added features but rather essential components of a competent online backup product.  That’s why we include these features as standard features of eSureIT. 

Q: How does Intronis market and sell its eSureIT solution?

 A: We are a channel-focused organization.  We offer our partners increased flexibility with the option to refer, resell or rebrand eSureIT—three options developed to fit any individual business needs.  As partners secure more eSureIT users, the percentage of revenue they receive also increases, and partners have the ability to easily switch between programs and tiers depending on their business goals.  For larger resellers, we offer a volume program where they can purchase a specific amount of space on the Intronis servers for data storage.   

We have also recently unveiled our plans to further enhance our partner support services through our new Partner Enablement Program. The program will provide channel partners with the tools necessary to shorten ramp-up times through a seamless certification process, make available a variety of white label materials to support their marketing efforts and having a dedicated sales/technical staff to provide personalized ‘single-point-of-contact’ service for their growing customer needs. The focused efforts, directed toward our growing number of partners, will incorporate technical and sales webinars, sales tool kits, as well as personal channel enablement managers to assist with channel activities and campaigns.

We have been so successful that we are recognized as a Gold 5-Star Overall Winner in the VARBusiness 2008 Partner Program Guide (PPG).  Inclusion in this guide recognizes the strength of Intronis’ eSureIT Partner Program, as well as the Company’s continued dedication to its channel resellers, IT integrators and technology consultants.