Cloud Hosting Magazine

Arkeia Software announced Arkeia Network Backup version 8.1 with new features to simplify backup management of shared, hosted, or multi-tenant computing infrastructures. The new release accelerates cloud computing by reducing the cost and complexity of restoring customer data and of tracking backup service usage in shared, hosted environments.

Managed Service Providers (MSPs) that deliver cloud computing typically leverage both Linux and server virtualization, areas where Arkeia has demonstrated leadership and innovation. Linux provides a robust, cost-effective and flexible platform to deliver hosted services and virtualization improves the efficiencies of server deployment and management. With Arkeia Network Backup version 8.1, MSPs now have the ability to deliver even more customized backup capabilities to their customers with a system that is secure, scalable and granular.

“For more than two years we looked for a vendor who could provide customer-specific restore rights for our shared hosting customers,” said Dennis Kittrell, Senior Product Manager at Aplus.net, a managed service provider with more than 100,000 customers under management. “Arkeia Network Backup v8.1 can provide granular restore rights for our customers down to the database grain, ensuring customer-specific security.”

“Managed Service Providers (MSPs) have deployed Arkeia Network Backup for years to protect not only their own data, but also their customers’,” said Bill Evans, CEO of Arkeia Software. “Now, as MSPs lead the build-out of the Internet’s cloud computing infrastructure, they need new capabilities for backup. With Version 8.1, Arkeia Network Backup delivers reporting functionality for shared tenant environments. Reports can be extensively customized and delivered interactively, via email, or through MSP-managed dashboards. The release will also help MSPs reduce costs by allowing their customers to directly restore their own data without having to rely on the support of the MSP’s technical staff.”

Custom Restore Objects
Custom Restore Objects (CROs) allow system administrators to create user accounts with specific, granular restoration rights. These accounts can be granted authority to recover entire systems, partitions and drives, directories and folders, or even VMs specific to a VMware hypervisor or tables specific to MySQL databases. Custom Restore Objects ensure data privacy by limiting what an end-user is able to access, and also reduce management overhead by allowing end-users to initiate restores of their own data. Administrators reduce their workload by extricating themselves from the data restoration process, allowing them to focus on other tasks. Service to the end-user is also improved by allowing end-users to recover data at any time.

Flexible and Extensible Reporting
Version 8.1 increases visibility into backup infrastructure with new reporting that is both granular and flexible. The new reporting features include both pre-configured reports and powerful tools for custom report generation. Reports can be viewed via the web graphical user interface or delivered via e-mail, command line, or export-to-file. Administrators can create custom report profiles configurable to a specific customer or to a group of customers. Increased granularity of backup reports allows an MSP’s CIO to simplify billing system integration, manage hardware investments, and set prices for backup services.

Availability and Pricing
Arkeia Network Backup version 8.1 will be available to select beta testers next week and is scheduled for general availability in Summer, 2009. Both perpetual and subscription licensing are available for MSPs. For more information visit: www.arkeia.com/r/version8.1.

About Arkeia Software
Arkeia Software delivers proven solutions for data backup and disaster recovery. The award-winning Arkeia Network Backup Suite is designed for both mid-sized organizations and multi-site enterprises, and safeguards more than 100,000 networks for 7,000 customers in 70 countries. Arkeia software products protect data on over 150 platforms, including virtually all Linux and Windows platforms, as well as AIX, BSD, HP-UX, Irix, Macintosh, Netware, and Solaris. Arkeia Backup Servers are deployed in three modes: as software applications, hardware appliances, or virtual appliances. Complementary suite software includes file agents, application agents, database agents, virtual machine agents, disaster recovery agents, backup replication servers, and central management servers. Arkeia shipped the industry’s first network backup solution for Linux in 1999 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.