In a move that makes it clear that CommVault is not in the cloud business, CommVault announced its intention to enable a cloud-based tier of storage for its Simpana suite of data management solutions.  Previously, the company emphasized that it would not follow the lead of others in its segment and offer a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution based on Simpana.  Instead, the company arms MSPs with its technology so that they can deliver a SaaS solution.  Now, CommVault is enabling a cloud storage tier via partnerships with Amazon (S3), Iron Mountain (Archive Services Platform), Microsoft (Azure), Nirvanix (SDN), and soon EMC (Atmos).

Bravo CommVault.  The company has always had flair for doing things differently…  and for being aggressive versus the competition.  There’s no difference here.  None of the other enterprise-class backup vendors have provided any direction regarding their cloud tiers for on-premises backup/recovery and archive solutions.  Sure, Symantec has its Hosted Services offering (formerly SPN), which delivers a cloud storage tier for Backup Exec, but what about NetBackup?  IBM has SaaS and cloud offerings within its BCRS group, but none currently integrate with TSM.  And EMC?  Well, Atmos should provide cloud capabilities for its Networker and Avamar solutions, but EMC Backup and Recovery Services group is focused on integrating its Data Domain storage tier first.

CommVault is attempting to make the move to a cloud storage tier easy.  Simpana has gone through the integration necessary to communicate with other vendors’ cloud-based storage …  no “complex scripting or the addition of costly, disparate cloud gateway appliances.”  This capability is offered at no charge through a one-click upgrade to the latest service pack (although clients still pay CommVault for the capacity of data managed by Simpana).  Security and bandwidth concerns are being addressed with encryption, and compression and deduplication, respectively.

So which cloud to choose?  That’s the challenging part.  With choice often comes confusion.  It’s likely that CommVault will steer clients to one cloud vendor or another based on need.  Those with large data sets interested in getting rid of physical tape might choose Iron Mountain or Nirvanix for a D2D2C strategy.  However, if the client is multi-nationa,l these choices will be limiting as they service the US only.  Amazon and Microsoft have better geographical coverage.  They also may be better suited for lower change rate backups directly from remote and branch offices (ROBOs) in a D2C fashion.

There are pricing plans and contracts to evaluate with each cloud partner.  And, importantly, the cloud vendors’ SLAs (the definition of the cloud infrastructure performance criteria to be met and remedies if they are not) must be reviewed.  There’s probably not a lot of room for customization of SLAs.  It may be the case where existing business processes will need to adjust to fit the cloud provider’s solution, rather than vice versa.  CommVault does state, however, that “cooperation between CommVault and its cloud partners enables seamless tech support for joint customers.”  Hmm, that’s interesting.

The CommVault strategy should have strong appeal for its clients seeking to minimize or eliminate the use of physical tape for long-term retention.  ESG research confirms CommVault’s approach: while on-premises disk is clearly on the rise, respondents predicted an almost 40% increase in the use of cloud storage and a decrease in offsite physical tape over the next 24 months.

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Tags: Amazon, Avamar, backup, cloud, CommVault, D2C, D2D2C, Data Domain, EMC, IBM, Iron Mountain, Microsoft, NetBackup, Networker, Nirvanix, ROBO, SaaS, Simpana, SLA, Symantec, tape, TSM