Intronis unveils file sync-and-share cloud offering for SMB customers

Intronis Inc., the channel-exclusive cloud backup and recovery vendor, today expanded its partner opportunity with the introduction of Intronis ECHOshare, a cloud-based file sync-and-share offering for small and medium-size business (SMB) customers.

ECHOshare is the latest product from Intronis to integrate with the Intronis ECHOplatform, which was introduced in June. ECHOplatform is a data protection services system with a fixed pricing model and unlimited storage. It puts all of the vendor's offerings under one umbrella.

The file sync-and-share market is forecast to grow to $2.3 billion worldwide by 2018, according to IDC.

Managed service providers (MSPs) can offer their SMB customers ECHOshare cloud-based file sync and share as a standalone offering or as an add-on service to existing Intronis accounts, according to the company. Intronis has about 2,000 partners.

The file sync-and-share market is forecast to grow to $2.3 billion worldwide by 2018, according to IDC. There are currently top five vendors -- Apple, Box, Citrix, Dropbox and Microsoft -- that together accounted for 73.3% of the total market revenue of $805 million in 2013, the research firm said.

According to Intronis, ECHOshare is an affordable and secure enterprise-grade solution and provides MSPs with an offering that competes against consumer-direct brands. Some key product features:

• Team-based sharing that includes controlled access and permissions;
• visibility and control with permission-based access and password policies and data wipe capabilities;
• remote access to files;
• version control;
• the ability to send large files within teams or to non-users via a public link; and
• mobile support for devices such as Apple's iPhone and iPad, as well as Android smartphones and tablets.

For MSPs, the new offering includes built-in functionality, such as centralized billing and management, industry and government compliance features, security features, and seamless integration with the ECHOplatform, according to Intronis.

In a recently published study, IDC estimated that almost half of U.S. enterprises with more than 1,000 employees either formally or informally adopted file sync-and-share solutions by the end of 2013.

Vanessa Thompson, research director for enterprise social networks and collaborative technologies at IDC, stated that the file sync-and-share market is rapidly commoditizing. As a result, she expects to see bundled vendor products and offerings appear that target a variety of specialized market needs alongside pure-play file sync-and-share products.