GFI® Software Creates New Revenue Opportunity for Managed Services Providers with Managed Cloud Backup

CLEARWATER, Fla., May 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- GFI Software today announced the addition of GFI MAX Managed Online Backup™ to the GFI MAX RemoteManagement™ managed services platform. The new service enables managed services providers (MSPs) to add secure data backup to the managed services they can offer customers at a time when demand for online backup continues to rise.

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Businesses are increasingly turning to online backup as the importance of securely stored data increases and natural disasters continue to make headlines. In addition to business continuity benefits, companies that embrace cloud storage can better manage the cost and time needed for data recovery in the event of a disaster. A recent report from Gartner predicts that "HDD costs will increase by 5% to 20% in 2012"(1) in the wake of the recent flooding in Thailand which decimated a large portion of the world's ability to manufacture hard drives.

These costs combined with the exponential growth in the amount of data that businesses need to store are forcing companies to seek new ways to manage their IT costs without sacrificing storage capabilities, which creates new opportunities for MSPs offering managed online backup. In fact, a recent survey of GFI MAX customers conducted at GFI's global partner conferences found that MSPs expect online backup services to be the most widely adopted via the cloud in the new year.

"Cloud-based backup is a natural complement to the services that our MSP partners provide through the GFI MAX platform," said Dr. Alistair Forbes, general manager of the GFI MAX Business Unit, GFI Software. "This is our fourth major technology integration into the platform maximizing the breadth of services that our partners can manage for their customers. GFI MAX Managed Online Backup allows them to increase their revenue by providing competitively priced, highly efficient, encrypted backup just as more and more customers look to adopt cloud services."

Features and benefits of GFI MAX Managed Online Backup include:

• Powerful security with encrypted IP backup – Data is encrypted at every step of the process, ensuring that files, system states, network shares, exchange stores, SQL server databases and application-aware VMware Snapshots remain completely secure both onsite and in the cloud.
• Low bandwidth usage – Using data de-duplication technology, only incremental changes are backed up daily, reducing time and bandwidth resources needed to keep data stores up to date.
• Rapid restore with "Speed Vault" – The ability to simultaneously back up data onsite and in the cloud allows customers to access local data quickly and easily.
• Easy provisioning – IT administrators can specify which files and folders are backed up and determine a schedule that meets the precise needs of an organization.
• Robust reporting – Daily Safety Check monitors the success of daily backups and shows information on all backup sessions within a retention period including usage and costs, demonstrating value to the customer.
• Pay-as-you-go pricing – Costs are based on volume of data stored, enabling MSPs to profitably meet the budgetary needs of any customer regardless of their size.

A Growing Array Of Managed Services

GFI MAX Managed Online Backup is the latest in a series of enhancements made to the GFI MAX RemoteManagement platform. Through the GFI MAX RemoteManagement dashboard—with which MSPs remotely manage all of their customers' networks in one consolidated view—MSPs can also deploy managed antivirus, patch management and vulnerability scanning, as well as remotely control desktops and workstations. Additionally, GFI MAX MSPs can deploy GFI MAX MailProtection^™ managed email security and GFI MAX MailArchive^™ managed email archiving. GFI MAX also enables integration with Professional Services Automation (PSA) platforms from Autotask Corp. and Connectwise.

To learn more about GFI MAX, visit www.gfi.com/max or email [email protected].

About GFI Software

GFI Software provides web and mail security, archiving, backup and fax, networking and security software and hosted IT solutions for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) via an extensive global partner community. GFI products are available either as on-premise solutions, in the cloud or as a hybrid of both delivery models. With award-winning technology, a competitive pricing strategy, and a strong focus on the unique requirements of SMBs, GFI satisfies the IT needs of organizations on a global scale. The company has offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Austria, Australia, Malta, Hong Kong, Philippines and Romania, which together support hundreds of thousands of installations worldwide. GFI is a channel-focused company with thousands of partners throughout the world and is also a Microsoft Gold ISV Partner.

(1) Gartner, Inc., How to Cope With a Worldwide Hard-Disk Shortage in 2012, Valdis Filks, Stanley Zaffos, December 6, 2011.

For more information:
GFI Software
Please email David Kelleher on [email protected]
GFI - Malta: Tel: +356 2205 2000; Cell: +356 7906 3606; Fax: +356 21382419
URL: http://www.gfi.com

Davies Murphy Group
Please email Brian Alberti on [email protected]
Tel: 781-418-2403
URL: http://www.daviesmurphy.com

Copyright © 2011 GFI Software. All rights reserved. All trademarks used are owned by their respective companies. To the best of our knowledge, all details were correct at the time of publishing; this information is subject to change without notice

SOURCE GFI Software