Druva Adds Mobile Capabilities To Backup Service

Enterprise PC backup specialist Druva expanded its services on 29 March to include new mobile data protection capabilities that use a single point of control across a large number of endpoint devices.

Whereas Druva made its reputation over the last four years by providing a reliable PC backup to the cloud, it now offers central control for many devices used by an enterprise. From a single on-premises or cloud portal, IT personnel now can view and manage backup, data access and data loss prevention (DLP), as well as bandwidth allotment and security – for all of a user’s laptops, tablets and smartphones.

Endpoint management

Druva’s “manage the user across all endpoint devices” approach gives control of mobile devices to IT, while giving users access to their data from anywhere, company co-founder and chief executive Jaspreet Singh told eWEEK.

The Druva application needs only one click to restore any file or backup volume. The company also guarantees 100 percent accuracy in deduplication for backups and restores, Singh said.

inSync’s new features for mobile devices include:

• Mobile-Data Backup: Customers now have a mobile-data solution that backs up data from all of their devices uniformly. inSync simplifies management and storage of user data by enabling IT to select backup either to an on-premises server or to the cloud, or to a combination of on-premises and cloud as dictated by enterprise requirements.
• Multi-Device Access: With inSync, users can instantly access and view data from all of their devices on each of those devices, from a single desktop interface, or from a single web interface, greatly improving user productivity and access to data.
• Mobile Data-Loss Prevention: IT can encrypt data, remotely geo-locate, and even remotely wipe data from a lost or stolen mobile device regardless of its location. Instant alerts notify the inSync administrator and virtually eliminate the risks of unauthorised access to the data.

inSync’s on-premises configuration can scale up to control of 100,000 devices from a single console. Its HyperCache preserves storage capacity through in-memory global source-based data deduplication and support for solid-state drives (SSDs) optimises system performance. For additional customer protection, Druva provides service-level agreements (SLAs).

Security

inSync’s cloud storage protects data through two-factor encryption, sandboxing and strict access control, Singh said. The cloud model also enables rapid global deployment as well as scalability to support any number of users and devices.

“Seventy-three percent of users cite ‘intrusive backups’ as a major obstacle to their productivity,” Singh, a former Veritas executive, said. “It’s just a pain to have to do this manually, especially on a regular basis. Druva simply automates this chore, and you never have to think about it.”

With Druva inSync, laptop upgrades to install the inSync client software are “pushed” to users, and no user involvement or IT support is required. On the IT side, server setup requires about 20 minutes or less, Singh said.

“Backups happen strictly in the background, require no user intervention and have no effect on laptop performance,” Singh said. With its patented application-aware deduplication, inSync can reduce backup-file sizes by 90 percent, he said.

The name Druva means “North Star” in Sanskrit. “We’ve called it that because, like the North Star, your data always needs to be there for you,” Singh said.

inSync licensing is based on a per-user model that allows any number of devices per user. Pricing for the inSync cloud solution is $6 (£4) per user, per month, and the on-premises version is $4 per user, per month. The product will be available in April 2012.

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