Data Backup Digest

Symantec, perhaps most well known for their Norton anti-virus service, have announced that they are closing down their Backup Exec.cloud service. The service was first launched in early 2012, aimed to help small businesses back up their data. Cloud services are becoming increasingly commonplace; Backup Exec.cloud was introduced in Symantec’s Backup Exec 2012 range of programs and focusses on off-site data protection for those companies without dedicated IT staff.

IDG News Service first reported on the news when Symantec emailed its channel partners (those who sell the annual subscriptions) to say that the service was closing down. The company stopped selling new subscriptions and renewals on 6 January 2014. However, the service will exist and will be supported until a year later on 6 January 2015. Those existing customers will be able to use the service until their annual subscription expires. Those with multiyear subscriptions will be contacted by Symantec to process a partial refund.

As an alternative offering, Symantec are giving current users 35% off their Backup Exec on-site software and also suggest Norton Zone.

Symantec have said that their service doesn’t have the mobile and content sharing features that they want and that Backup Exec.cloud isn’t the right service to offer that.

“Customers want features such as synch & share and mobile access. Backup Exec.cloud was not designed with these features in mind,” a FAQ on Symantec’s website reads. “As a result, Symantec has decided to discontinue Backup Exec.cloud in order to focus on more productive and feature-rich cloud-based applications which include this type of functionality.”

The company still do offer a range of backup and recovery programs, including those on-site and hybrid. They will continue to fund their products, including their Backup Exec and NetBackup programs, plus expanding the features of Norton Zone. However, this closure comes as an attempt to make their product line up simpler. This comes after Symantec appointed a new CEO in 2012, who in January 2013 announced that the firm would be reorganising its software.

“As we align with our new offering strategy and efforts to streamline our product range to provide fewer, more integrated solutions for our customers, Symantec has made the decision to retire Backup Exec.cloud,” said Symantec. “We are firmly committed to doing everything we can to help our partners and customers successfully navigate this process.”

Data currently stored in the cloud on the service will be deleted when user’s subscriptions expire. However, because the data still exists on customer’s computers there should be no need to download anything. Additionally, the company will not be providing any support in migrating data over to another service.

While it is an inconvenience for users to seek out another service, they have been given a long time to find an alternative and transfer their data over. Indeed, a lot of companies offer cloud backup services for businesses which might turn out to be more cost effective. Also, Symantec still offer other backup and recovery facilities which could cater for all of some user’s needs.