NetApp launches partner-led backup service in the UK

Daisy and Node4 named as launch partners, after meeting "rigorous" requirements including 100 separate criteria

NetApp has chosen Daisy and Node4 as UK launch partners for its new cloud Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) offering, as it looks to cash in on the growing market.

At a press event in London yesterday evening, the data management and storage vendor said the service is now available in the UK, after winning 200 customers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Spain. The next regions on the list for the service after the UK are France, Portugal and the Netherlands.

Matt Watts, NetApp's director of technology and strategy for EMEA, said that the megatrend of digital transformation is the motivation behind launching the service, as more and more clients wish to move towards the cloud.

According to data from Research and Markets, the global backup-as-a-service (BaaS) market will grow at a CAGR of 27.5 per cent between 2016 and 2020.

Watts said this trend, as well as an increased threat to customers from ransomware attacks, means there is a "perfect storm" for partners to jump on board with its latest offering. He said it fits into NetApp's broader ambition to "manage and protect the world's data".

He said the move to digital is "the new normal", but that it is not all good news for customers.

"It's also bringing some huge threats: ransomware, which is the scourge of certainly last year and this year," he said. "Already we are hearing of companies very close to us which are suffering from this. Ransomware isn't a case of will you get hit, it's a question of when you will get hit, and what you will do when it happens. It's an increasingly problem for this year - we are relying more on data but it is more at risk than it's ever been before. We have to have better processes and procedures and technologies in place to protect it to a level we haven't had to before, and to get it back when something goes wrong."

He cited data from NetApp and IDC research which showed that the traditional on-premise backup market is due to fall by eight per cent by 2020, while the cloud backup market will grow four per cent over the same period.

Watts took the opportunity to have a dig at rival EMC's Data Domain product.

"We know the market is going in that direction and partners are saying it's an opportunity for them, and I think this is interesting," he said. "If you look at other technologies - let's put it out there, Data Domain - it fits in this [declining] market. I think there are a lot of pieces coming together which creates a perfect storm. Now, launching BaaS with our partners, is just the ideal time to be doing this."

Partner plans

NetApp is taking its BaaS offering to market in the UK through its partners, with Node4 and Daisy the first on board. Both had to undertake a "rigorous" selection process, meeting 100 separate criteria, which have to be renewed annually.

Steve Denby, Node4's head of solution sales, said that NetApp's decision to offer a cloud backup product, not one which is on-prem, is significant.

"We're seeing a move towards the cloud and software-as-a-service," he said. "Owning stuff has become less and less important to our clients. What we deliver over the network is a series of service towers, and backup fits into that obviously.

"The need around back-up is changing quite dramatically. It's this move towards DevOps, away from the traditional IT management teams. The new skills are all about software and coding and analytics. It's decentralising - you can park workloads where they best fit. Some workloads end up in hyperscale clouds like Amazon, others might end up in Salesforce, and others might be in co-location, or sat within infrastructure-as-a-service. That presents a problem when it comes to backups, because things were easy when things were all in one place - you backed them up onto disc and tape and when they got a request to get something back, they had a linear journey.

"Now the challenge with which they are faced is there is a drive from the board level to use Office 365 and software-as-a-service. Look at these workloads - they are disparate. But we still have needs. You've got to keep copies of this stuff for archival purposes. All of this sits under the umbrella of backup-as-a-service - we are retaining data for different purposes.

Nathan Marke, Daisy's chief digital officer, agreed and said offering customers digital services is so important, the firm is rebranding to become a "digital services provider".

"The problem we are trying to address is this: we did a survey last year of about 500 customers and asked them about digital," he said. "They all said it's really important - small businesses in the UK, hardly any have a digital strategy, and in the mid-market, about half do. The reason they said this is because it's really complicated. That's why we built Daisy - to have those broad shoulders to take on that complexity and deliver that value back. We're starting to call ourselves a digital services provider. You're starting to see that DSP moniker come out as we transition from a provider of services to a provider of digital services."