SolarWinds Launches Backup for Office 365 for MSPs

SolarWinds last week announced a cloud-based backup solution for Office 365 it says protects data managed from the same web-based dashboard typically used for servers and workstations.

That approach, which allows managed service providers (MSPs) to see the status of their backups across all customers and locations, sets Backup for Office 365 apart from other Office 365 cloud-based backup solutions from vendors such as Veeam, Acronis, Backupify and CodeTwo. Those solutions may require a separate console or separate product for Office 365.

"Technicians don’t need different credentials, have to switch interfaces or look in two places to troubleshoot issues or recover files," said Alex Quilter, SolarWinds' vice president of product management for security.

Backup for Office 365 also includes virtually unlimited cloud storage in SolarWinds' private cloud to protect Microsoft Exchange, OneDrive and SharePoint. SolarWinds maintains more than 30 data centers worldwide to maintain locality requirements.

"We think it’s important to allow backups to reside in a country of the company’s choice, so that company data won’t cross borders without their permission," Quilter said.

The goal, Quilter said, is to help reduce the potential impact of malicious external attacks or internal user error. Related data retention, recoverability and the ability to demonstrate regulatory compliance are becoming even more critical, he added, as more businesses adopt software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications and shift resources to the cloud.

There is a good reason why companies have so many choices when it comes to protecting Office 365 files. According to a recently released report, Microsoft Office represented 73% of the most commonly exploited applications worldwide during the third quarter of 2019. Another report from earlier this year found that 60% of sensitive cloud data is stored in Office documents, and 75% of that data is not backed up.

"Office 365 email and documents shared and stored in SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams are the new business-critical data," said the 451 Research report. " Many business continuity/disaster recovery (BC/DR) plans start with protecting key databases and other mission-critical applications, but the unstructured data generated by SaaS-based products is starting to grow faster than traditional database information and can have just as critical of an impact when lost or destroyed."