SolarWinds has launched Backup for Office 365 -- though the launch is better described as an upgrade that features three key cloud enhancements along with some management and storage boosts.
The three key enhancements, a SolarWinds spokesperson tells ChannelE2E, includes:
- General availability of SolarWinds Backup for SharePoint, which was previously in beta. Earlier, SolarWinds had data protection for Exchange, then added OneDrive, and have now added SharePoint.
- New bundled per-user pricing. All three of the above elements can be protected for one per-user price. Previously, Exchange was one price, OneDrive was another, and so on.
- SolarWinds has "dramatically" increased the amount of backup cloud storage included in the price. It’s now 1 TB per user, which is much more than the typical user would consume, the company says.
In terms of simplified management, SolarWinds points to these MSP benefits:
- You can manage Office 365 backups from the same dashboard as server and workstation backups, saving time and cutting down on administrative overhead, the company asserts.
- Virtually unlimited cloud storage (1 TB per user) is included, and with more than 30 data centers worldwide, customers can keep their backups in region to help meet regulatory requirements, the company adds.
Office 365: MSP Data Protection Options
Most of the major MSP software and backup providers offer some sort of Office 365 backup and disaster recovery (BDR) services -- either directly or through partners.
The options are easily found from Acronis, Asigra, Axcient, Barracuda MSP, Carbonite, ConnectWise's Continuum Business, Datto, Kaseya, MSP360, StorageCraft -- and the lengthy list goes on. Still, the feature list from provider to provider can vary greatly.
As a basic first step, MSPs should check for options that integrate with popular PSA (professional services automation) and RMM (remote monitoring and management) software platforms. Also, double-check to see if or how the backup systems integrate with security systems -- essentially offering multi-layer protection from ransomware attacks and other modern malware threats.
