April 1, 2016
Cloud and hybrid business continuity and disaster recovery provider, Carbonite, recently purchased EVault, another cloud-based business continuity company, for $14 million in December 2015. Carbonite made the acquisition from data storage solutions developer, Seagate, and is now expected to significantly increase their share of the projected $8.2 billion market.
In the official press release, Mohamad Ali, President and CEO of Carbonite, commented:
“With this acquisition, Carbonite is taking a big step forward in meeting the data protection and business continuity needs of the entire SMB market from home offices to medium-sized businesses. EVault’s proven technology, which includes a line of highly scalable appliances and advanced disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) capabilities, enables us to round out our portfolio and immediately provide the features and functionality larger businesses require to support their complex environments.”
Background Behind the EVault Acquisition
To understand the reasons behind this deal, you have to go all the way back to 2006 when Seagate themselves acquired EVault for a whopping $185 million. At the time, Seagate claimed the move was an effort to expand into other areas of data storage solutions. Considering their current products and the growing realization that cloud was the future, cloud-based business continuity and disaster recovery seemed a logical choice.
Since then, the EVault brand has been in constant flux. In 2008, their products were rebranded as i365 only to be reverted back to EVault three years later. Then in 2014, it was announced that the EVault was going to be operating as an official Seagate business unit. Now a year later, they are sold for a paltry $14 million.
What’s Different This Time Around?
It begs the question, what will be different this time? Will Carbonite fumble with EVault for a few years then pass it off to someone else? Not likely.
There are two key differences that make this a much more attractive pairing.
1. Complimentary Products: Both EVault and Carbonite are in the disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) and business continuity market. However, before the acquisition, Carbonite’s product line provided value almost exclusively to the SMB market. The EVault technology suite is designed for larger, more complex environments, and the purchase will allow them to expand their range into small enterprises.
2. Product Adoption: EVault is being completely absorbed instead of being kept as a separate identity and brand. Two hundred new EVault employees are now permanent members of the Carbonite team, and three of EVault’s software solutions are now added to the Carbonite product line.
- EVault Cloud Backup and Recovery: A software solution that provides server backup for an organization.
- EVault Backup and Recovery Appliances: Delivering a low footprint and military-grade encryption, Carbonite welcomes a line of hardware and software ready to integrate into a client’s environment.
- EVault Cloud Resiliency Services: The Cloud Resiliency Services enable DRaaS and failover within the cloud.
What the acquisition portends for Carbonite no one can tell for sure, but from all accounts, it appears to be an advantageous partnership.
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For Further Reading:
[Interview] Discussing Disaster Recovery Essentials with Carbonite