Veeam Intros Free Endpoint Data Protection: What It Means For Channel

Veeam signaled plans on Wednesday to expand its data backup and availability business with the unveiling of its first data backup and recovery solution for Windows-based endpoints.

Veeam used its VeeamON conference, held this week in Las Vegas, to unveil Veeam EndPoint Backup Free, a stand-alone solution for protecting data on Windows-based desktops and laptops that customers will be able to download and deploy for no charge.

While Veeam gets all of its revenue via indirect sales channel partners, Veeam EndPoint Backup Free is not an enterprise product, said Doug Hazelman, Veeam vice president of product strategy.

[Related: Veeam Stays The Channel Course In Push To Keep Data Centers Available]

It is instead designed as a stand-alone backup solution targeted at IT professionals mainly within the company's existing customers, Hazelman said.

"We want to get it in the hands of IT pros (and) see how we can expand it in the future," he said.

Veeam EndPoint Backup Free can use a variety of backup targets including another computer, an external hard drive, a file share or the Veeam Backup Repository, Hazelman said. It can do file-level or volume-level recovery, or a full bare metal recovery, he said.

Veeam EndPoint Backup Free can also be used to back up data on a very limited number of servers, perhaps the few servers that have yet to be virtualized, Hazelman said. However, it is not designed to be an enterprise product, he said.

Veeam CEO Ratmir Timashev said Veeam, which has offered free versions of new products even since the company was founded, strongly believes in the
'fremium" model.

"We want to give something to IT pros they can use," Timashev said. "We have 120,000 customers. Each has maybe three IT pros. ... That's 360,000 VMware and Hyper-V users."

The fact that the new solution is available at no charge should have no impact on channel partners, Hazelman said.

"If we decide to monetize it in the future, it will still be through the channel," he said.

For now, it is unclear how Veeam EndPoint Backup Free could help the channel, said Jed Ayres, CMO at MCPc, a Cleveland, Ohio-based solution provider and Veeam channel partner.

NEXT: How Veeam EndPoint Backup Free Might Help The Channel

The solution sounds more like an SMB play which is interesting given Veeam's interest in moving upstream into the enterprise, Ayres told CRN.

"That's why Veeam is so heavy on the always-on availability message at this conference," he said.

However, Ayres said he can see a few directions where Veeam could move with Veeam EndPoint Backup Free.

The next logical step would be to turn the solution into more of a "Dropbox-type" file sync and share offering, he said.

It could also be a good way for Veeam to gain additional insight into its customers' requirements, Ayres said. "Veeam firmly believes their customers are highly skilled at downloading software," he said. "The company follows up with such customers. Downloads become another data point to Veeam."

Veeam is also good at getting leads to partners, Ayres said.

"Assuming Veeam can warm things up with this new offering, get leads, pass them to partners, it will help partners while increasing the visibility of Veeam as a company," he said.

Veeam EndPoint Backup Free is currently in alpha testing, with a public beta expected in November. General availability is slated for early 2015, Hazelman said.

PUBLISHED OCT. 8, 2014