3X Systems announces SMB-focused private cloud backup appliance 18 November, 2009 By Mark Cox

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The company was started in 2006 when its' founder and CEO, Alan Arman, who had previously run a managed services company and had problems with managing backup manually through tape, decided to start a company to built a better backup solution.

"We have been in the small company space to this point, but with this release we are moving up to medium sized companies as well," Arman said.

The 3X RBA lets SMBs perform their initial backup on premise using the local high speed network, then move the device offsite for continuous remote data protection and disaster recovery. Using its patent-pending locator service, the 3X RBA automatically connects to and backs up data from servers, desktops, roaming laptops and remote offices, regardless of the physical location of these endpoints or of the appliance itself. This unique architecture blends on-premise, remote and private cloud backup solutions to keep data safe, private, easy to recover, and continuously in the possession of the organization.

"Backup solutions have focused on the local aspect of backup or the remote aspect, but very few address both parts as a turnkey appliance as we do," Arman said.

The earlier small business version of the product had a max of 1 TB of storage. The new version has 2 TB. Arman said that might not sound like a lot, but for those who suggest it might be cheaper just to use a cheap NAS with the same amount of storage, he points out that the deduplication abilities in the 3X RBA makes that storage go a lot further.

"The way we manage the data, the deduplication system lets you back up an enormous amount of data without filling it up," he said. "We only maintain changes for each version, and don't recopy the whole database, so you can manage a lot of data within the 2 TB,"

To overcome the privacy drawbacks of cloud backup services, the 3X RBA stores data on a physical appliance that is owned and controlled by the business. All data on the device is protected by HIPAA Compliant 128-bit AES encryption with digital access keys, hardware signatures, IP filtering, and hierarchical permission levels of administrator authorization. Remote backup sessions are secured using SSL encryption at both ends of broadband connections to prevent data theft.

"All the communication from client to the appliance is fully encrypted," Arman said. "Even the data on the appliance can be encrypted."

The RBA also allows data to be backed up from anywhere to anywhere using the system's unique locator service technology which eliminates manual configuration of IP addresses, port numbers, and hostnames. In the event of a disaster or catastrophic data loss, the portable 3X RBA can be moved back onto the network for lightening fast data restore.

"The Locator service runs at our data center and allows the appliance to be portable," Arman said. "It is similar to Dynamic DNS but has more features."

3X is still building out its' channel to sell these appliances. They have 160 resellers, mainly in North America, and a fairly standard three-tier channel program with Authorized, Premier and Elite partners, based on sales volume.

"The Authorized level is designed for small VARs that don't specialize in storage or data recovery or backup," said Rocky White, director marketing and sales, for 3X Systems. "The Premier and Authorized levels are the ones who would take advantage of our programs."

White said they try very hard to provide great marketing and sales support , including web demos on demand for prospects, lead generation through webinars and webcasts, customized marketing materials, and co-marketing matching funds dollars, with cost sharing at the front, not just when the product is sold.

"We are proactively looking to recruit more resellers at the Premier and Elite levels," White said. "We haven't put the resources into recruiting top quality partners until the last quarter or so. We have finite resources so are looking for these premier and elite partners to whom backup and DR is part of their business model."

White said three things tend to be attractive to their partners.

The first is the deliverability model.

"Partners can deliver it three different ways. They can sell the solution, they can sell it and provide incremental services and support, or they can sell it and bring the appliance back to their location and become the hosted solution. We find that blended model partners find interesting."

The second positive thing is ease of use.

"It doesn't take time for training or certification, so it is very easy to get out and make money," White said.

The third is the pricing, which starts at $USD 2,495 and includes an unlimited number of endpoint licenses and a full year of unlimited technical support and software upgrades.

"The pricing is designed for SMBs, so customers don't choke when they see the pricing," White said.