Will Nirvanix Death Kill Small Cloud Backup Firms?

Will Nirvanix Death Kill Small Cloud Backup Firms?

By Doug Barney

The worst thing to ever happen to the small cloud storage provider occurred this week when Nirvanix apparently went out of business – giving customers just two weeks to move their data somewhere safe.

That second part is what cloud backup outfits will have to face down for months and maybe years to come. After all, haven’t they already been dealing with the old adage “you can’t trust the cloud”?


Image via Shutterstock

Nirvanix now gives those believers fresh ammo. There was no real announcement. In fact it looks like business as usual on the Nirvanix website. The company still calls itself “the leading provider of enterprise-class cloud storage services. The company offers cloud storage solutions designed specifically for customers with expectations of extreme security, reliability and redundancy levels. Enterprise requirements are such that you can't have any scheduled or unscheduled downtime,” the website still says.

Now Nirvanix itself is declaring downtime on all the backed up data. Customers and partners have been told the whole darn thing is shutting down and they best get their data out there before the end of the month. That’s it. Just private conversations, no public announcement.

Moving gigabytes, terabytes and potentially petabytes could take an enormous amount of time when it has to move from one cloud to another, especially if moving across the public cloud.

At first flush, Nirvanix seemed to be one of the larger more stable cloud storage players. It appeared to have a highly experienced executive staff, some 1,200 customers, and has raised $70 million – including $25 million just last year.

Unfair Disadvantage

Nirvanix obviously faced some difficult challenges, but it not only bungled its business, it made a mess of its closing. You can’t let such a thing leak out, and then on the website act like nothing happened and refuse to comment when the press reaches out.

And it is a travesty that the company made no arrangements for its customers. Could it not sell itself super cheap, even free, to a cloud storage vendor that could take over its accounts? And does it not care what happens to its customers, other cloud storage vendors, and the entire cloud storage category?

This all plays right into the hands of the largest vendors who will presumably be more trusted. But get this. Nirvanix is the basis of IBM’s SmartCloud storage service. Think you can still only trust the big boys?

My guess is something will happen to help the situation. There must a white knight, maybe IBM, to take over the company and its customers well before we reach the two week deadline.

I for one am going to cover smaller cloud storage providers and give them all the benefit of the doubt. Why should they suffer from Nirvanix’s apparent stupidity?




Edited by Alisen Downey
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MSPToday Editor at Large

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