Redstor boss: We are now a fully fledged international software business

Shape-shifting former cloud and services player becomes bona fide software developer with growing global channel

Redstor is firmly focused on growth as it continues with its master plan to be a dominant force in the data backup/disaster recovery software development space.

The firm has ditched its VAR badge completely and pinned its colours to the software development mast, following the acquisition last year of South Africa-based firm Attix5. Both companies had enjoyed a 10-year relationship where Attix5 supplied the technology behind Redstor's backup service for schools (RBUSS).

Redstor chief executive and co-founder Paul Evans (pictured) told CRN the company is busy developing new offerings to expand its channel partner reach.

"Redstor has transformed from being a UK-centric business to an international software business. We already have 300 partners globally in areas such as South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Mauritius, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. And if you add the partners of the distributors we work with, that is another 400 to 500."

He explained that the firm's team of developers were working on a modular design for its new Keystone offering, due in September, which can cope with larger datasets and that it hopes will help the firm attract even more partners.

"It will have APIs [application programming interfaces] so third-party companies can develop their own software around our core engine," Evans said. "Our aim is to make backup/disaster recovery affordable for SMBs - at the moment a lot of them have cold sites ready and available, but that is costly. By leveraging AWS and Azure, we can get them up and running again very quickly and they don't have to have a massive capex for a 'just-in-case' moment."

Evans said the transition from VAR to software developer model had been smooth.

"It has been a really fun year, and we are now on version three of Redstor. Version one was becoming an integrator around data backup; version two was becoming a cloud company, and version three was becoming an international software business," he explained.

"Since the acquisition, we have gone from a business with 30 people to a company of 70 people, and we are actively recruiting across the board looking to bring on new developers, salespeople, marketing, graphic designers and customer experience people," he said.

Evans added that Redstor was also looking to grow organically and through acquisition, and broaden its geographical reach.

"A team is heading out to Dubai soon to visit an education show, and we are going to use that as a springboard to the education market and new customers," he said.

"Our main goals include to remain strong in core markets such as the UK and Africa, and to grow in New Zealand, US and Canada, but also to reach other English-speaking countries in the Far East such as Hong Kong and Singapore.

"[The Redstor] story really is very much that we have momentum now, and we want to accelerate it. We are growing our partners and our people as well," he said.