The Latest GFI News

MAY 01, 2012 - CLEARWATER, FLA. - 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.

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 bethemost 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.