Managing data is one of the biggest IT challenges that today’s businesses face as companies generate, save, and analyze data in unprecedented quantities. In fact, according to EMC, the total amount of data will reach 44 zettabytes (or 44 trillion gigabytes) by 2020. But what’s concerning is that this ever-growing amount of data isn’t the only thing that is creating challenges for business and IT professionals. Companies are also coming face-to-face with the haunting truth that, without data, there is no business. And therefore, companies are seeing how vital it is to have a modern and reliable system in place to help protect valuable business information that includes everything from data to files and more. And to address this specific problem, one of the best solutions that has emerged (and caught on) in recent years is cloud backup.
Cloud backup has proven to be one of the most efficient, cost-effective solutions for businesses due to its plethora of benefits (especially for small and midsized businesses): enhanced security, flexibility, scalability, accessibility, simplicity, and more. And when it comes to providing reliable cloud backups, one of the companies that is currently helping to influence the cloud backup market is Backblaze.
SourceForge had the chance to speak with Yev Pusin, the Senior Marketing Manager at Backblaze, to discuss the importance of cloud backups for today’s modern enterprises, as well as to dive with Pusin into how Backblaze Business Backup gives organizations not only peace of mind but also a competitive edge.
Q: Can you share with us a brief overview of Backblaze? How and when did the company get its start? What types of industries do you serve?
Yev Pusin, the Senior Marketing Manager at Backblaze
A: Established in 2007, Backblaze has built the world’s lowest cost high-performance cloud storage. We service both consumers and businesses.
Backblaze was founded to ensure that no one ever lost data again, and has restored over 25 billion files for our customers to date. We have over 500 petabytes of data under management and are considered to be a leader in online storage and cloud backup.
Q: Everyone is talking about backing up data to the cloud…but how much work and what processes does it truly entail? Is it really as easy as people make it out to be? And how does cloud backup differ from cloud storage?
A: Backing up data to the cloud should be simple, and that’s one of the places where Backblaze shines. We designed the service to be very easy to use because one of the biggest pieces of customer feedback we received is that backup “is too hard.” Whenever the term backup would come up in conversation, customer’s eyes would glaze over as they had flashbacks to using CDs and floppy drives.
What is cloud backup? It’s getting your data backed up with a process that’s as easy as installing an app. That’s it.
The key difference between cloud backup and cloud storage is what happens to the data. With cloud backup, a customer would typically install a client or app, and then that app would copy and send a backup version of the customer’s files over to the cloud. With cloud storage, there’s usually a series of APIs or a person or a company that customers can use to create their own client or move data directly to and from the cloud. In addition, cloud storage use cases can involve storing some (or all) of your data, whereas “backup” implies a complete copy of all of the data.
Q: With the increasing number of data breaches, many businesses and IT leaders are beginning to question the level of data control and security provided by cloud backup service providers. How does Backblaze address these doubts? And what is Backblaze’s approach when it comes to security?
A: We take security very seriously at Backblaze. We’re one of the only online backup providers to offer 2FV via SMS and/or Authentication Apps. In addition, all data that is transmitted via the Backblaze Online Backup app is encrypted on the client’s computer and is also stored as encrypted data on our servers. And even if a user requests a USB Hard Drive restore, that drive is encrypted in transit. Our intent is for users to have complete control over getting their data back securely.
Q: What are some of the major risks for organizations that choose to go without backup?
A: The risks to organizations without backups are huge. A study done at Pepperdine in 2003 calculated the annual cost of data loss for businesses at somewhere around $18.2 Billion dollars. Since the digitization of data has increased exponentially since 2003, this figure grows more and more every year.
Q: In all honesty, will one backup solution suffice? Or does it depend on factors like company size, data size, etc.?
A: No. We recommend following the 3-2-1 backup strategy. That means having 3 copies of the data, 2 copies on site (but on different mediums), and 1 copy off-site. Backup strategies should be similar to investing, where diversification of copies of your data is key.
Q: In your opinion, what is the most important thing enterprises should consider when looking at cloud backup solutions?
A: Enterprises need to consider the ease of use of the backup solutions that they are evaluating. One of the biggest pain points for a large organization is compliance among employees, and having systems that work seamlessly and in the background increases compliance in both large and small enterprises.
Q: Please explain a bit more about your solution, Backblaze Business Backup. Beyond its affordable pricing, what features make it a standout option in the market?
A: One of the key features of the Backblaze offering is our Groups feature. With it, an administrator can monitor an employees backup, manage their billing, and even order data restores on the employee’s behalf. It’s an easy way to keep track of backups for compliance reasons and makes monitoring simple.
Q: Backblaze is only among the very few providers offering unlimited data backup. How do you do it?
A: We designed and developed our own storage servers, which we call Storage Pods. That allows us to keep our prices low, because our pods are purpose-built to provide highly-available data storage, without some of the unnecessary components that other server manufacturers put into their devices.
Q: More than a year ago, Backblaze B2 cloud storage came out of the beta testing phase. So what feedback have you received thus far from users? And how does B2 work alongside your backup solution?
A: The feedback has been wonderful, and Backblaze B2 is growing very rapidly as a business. People love the service because it’s low-cost, easy to use, and has been embraced by integration partners. All that put together means that it’s a great solution for anyone, whether they are backing up one computer, a NAS drive, or are building applications on top of it. It’s working well for a wide range of use-cases and we couldn’t be more pleased.
Another area of positive feedback for B2 centers around our Groups feature. This Groups feature allows customers to pay for and manage both their Backblaze Computer Backup and Backblaze B2 accounts. This means that one organization can centralize management and billing for Computer Backup and Cloud Storage – making Backblaze the only platform allowing businesses to do both.
Q: Looking ahead, what trends or technologies do you think will shape the future of the cloud backup industry? What are some solutions, products, or plans that Backblaze may offer in the future?
A: We’re looking forward to hard drive prices dropping in the future as new technologies like HAMR and MAMR are implemented. That would allow cloud storage vendors to keep prices low while increasing density in their data centers. That decrease in Cost Per Gigabyte will lead to further innovation in the cloud storage space, and will also allow Backblaze to keep making our backup application the fastest and simplest available.
About Backblaze
Backblaze is a trusted online storage company that offers affordable and reliable cloud storage service as well as personal and business backup solutions. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Backblaze has been providing end-user computer backup since 2007. Today over 400 PB of data has been stored by Backblaze.
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