CTERA launches portal, upgrades its CloudPlug
CTERA, a startup that offers cloud attached storage with a gizmo called the CloudPlug, launched a portal and firmware upgrade. The aim: Allow Internet service providers, managed service providers and resellers to offer cloud storage to their customers.
The CloudPlug, along with a larger C200 appliance, is handy for small and mid-sized businesses. It connects with a local drive, say flash external storage, and couples that local backup with cloud storage. The hybrid approach works out pretty well and is intuitive. I took the CloudPlug for a spin as I was migrating PCs. Overall, the set-up was easy and the hybrid approach made sense. I also used pure cloud backups with Mozy Home and an Iomega drive for totally local data storage.
The biggest complaint with cloud backups is the time to offload a sizeable library of files, video and music to the Internet. It takes time.
For many folks, a bridge device like the CloudPlug could make sense. The CTERA portal that rides shotgun with the CloudPlug has been in extended beta. CTERA's Portal runs as a SaaS edition hosted by the company or can be installed at a service provider's data center.
A few key points:
- CTERA's portal can use third party infrastructure from the likes of Amazon S3 or Rackspace.
- The firmware upgrade for the CloudPlug includes secure remote access to manage the appliance remotely.
- Local snapshots of files stored and laptop backup.