Best of TechEd 2013 Finalist: Code42 PROe 3 Provides Consolidated Private/Public/Hybrid Cloud Backup

At Microsoft TechEd 2013, Code 42 Software showcased its CrashPlan PROe 3 enterprise backup service, and I had a chance to talk to Charles Green, senior systems engineer, about how CrashPlan has evolved from its consumer roots into the enterprise space. I was particularly impressed with its ability to let companies maintain manage their data in a public cloud, a managed private cloud, or a hybrid scenario—all from a single web console or phone app (yes, even Windows Phone!). CrashPlan PROe 3 is a Best of TechEd 2013 finalist.

CrashPlan PROe 3's new administration console and dashboard provides administrators with a real-time view of the entire system, making it much easier for backups; whether there are 200 users or 200,000. At a glance, the console displays the overall health, storage utilization, and bandwidth usage, and it enables administrators to drill down for an unprecedented level of detail and control, all in real-time, from any browser.

Version 3 features a new hybrid architecture, dynamic data balancing, secure mobile access with one-touch update, and powerful new management and deployment tools, allowing enterprises greater levels of security, flexibility, and efficiency with their data backup. It supports both public and private cloud storage across multiple physical locations and its automatic data balancing helps to ensure optimum use of available storage and bandwidth within and between servers and data centers. When new storage capacity is added to any node on the system, it is automatically and seamlessly incorporated and balanced.

Another key feature of the CrashPlan PROe 3 is backup sets, which Green identifies as a key differentiator from the competition. Backup sets make it easy to specify different groups of files and folders to be backed up on different schedules and/or to different destinations. The service also offers support for multiple LDAP servers, simplifying deployment to even the largest enterprises.

“CrashPlan PROe is all about reducing the impact on the Help desk,” Green said. “It lets you be as creative as you want to be with your backup scenarios. It gives you an experience that is very flexible. But the bottom line is that we’re a ‘restore’ company. I’m very proud of the restore stories that we hear from customers.”