CloudBerry is not to be confused with BlackBerry. CloudBerry isn’t into smartphones, but is instead totally devoted to backing up Amazon AWS cloud instances.
The current partner to many an MSP is now letting managed service providers sell the backup service as if it was their own – through a new white label program.
CloudBerry is just five years old, not nearly the 29 years BlackBerry (formerly Research in Motion) has under its belt. Of course Amazon AWS isn’t all that old itself.
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Besides offering AWS storage, in 2010 CloudBerry added support for Microsoft Windows Azure and Google storage.
The backup software relies on three components, Amazon Glacier cloud storage, Amazon S3 and of course the CloudBerry software itself.
The White Label Story
White labeling is a popular approach taken by those that sell to MSPs. While you give up a little brand recognition, you can gain some serious MSP business.
For MSPs, you can build your brand as you provide proven services from large MSP vendor. It is nearly all win-win.
The CloudBerry software is made to be managed. It includes quota management so clients’ storage can be limited to just what they pay for.
User accounts management lets MSPs provide access and manage that access once it is established.
Clients can access backups over the Web, even while the MSP is monitoring the storage remotely. Of course billing and invoicing is built right in, and is based on monthly usage reports.
Finally, CloudBerry has a published API so MSPs can integrate their other software and services.
What the Client Entails
The real meat of any backup is the client, as this is what clients and providers interact with.
In CloudBerry’s case, backups can of course be scheduled (the more critical the info, the more frequent the backup), and includes wizards to ease the backup process and make restores simpler.
Where most on-premises backups, be they tape or disk, are unencrypted, when you send data to the cloud and have it held by an outside provider you clearly want this data protected, which CloudBerry does with a key unique to each client.
Other features include:
- Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server backups
- The ability to backup just a subset of client data
- Cloud backups can be presented as local disks to the client
- Differential backups
AWS Manages Itself
There are an array of MSPs that add value to AWS. But Amazon itself has managed services. In fact, it has a whole separate company, Managed Solutions IT, “that helps SMBs integrate cloud computing into their IT and business strategies,” the company said.
Amazon managed services can handle Big Data, storage, and remote infrastructure management. Not shy about competing with partners, Amazon touts that it has “the most competitive prices for services.”
Edited by
Alisen Downey
