News

posted on 14 March 2008 10:40

A startup, Datacastle, has introduced a continuous data protection service delivered as a utility over the net. 

Its software-as-a-service (SAAS) offering is based on software in client PCs and laptops called Datacastle Endpoint Data Protection (DEDP). It continuously sends changed data to an online vault via managed service provider (MSP) partners of Datacastle, which is not providing its own online infrastructure.

The service is roughly similar to EMC's Mozy but there EMC is providing the back-end vault infrastructure.

DEDP encrypts all sent data using AES-256 encryption and randomly-generated master keys. The data is deduplicated which, Datacastle says, lowers the overall cost.

It has a Lock-Wipe-Trace feature which encrypts data on a client's hard drive and, if a laptop is stolen, can wipe out data on its disks as well as tracing it over the net.

Datacastle is aiming at users outside an enterprise's own facilities, such as moblile and home workers.

Gary Sumner, the CEO of Datacastle, said: "Datacastle enables the virtual workforce to work with data more securely than ever before. In collaboration with our Managed Service Provider partners, Datacastle is making Endpoint Data Protection easy to use, unobtrusive and unbreakable for enterprises that are otherwise at risk of not only losing vital data, but also jeopardizing their business credibility and value."

Datacastle has an analyst quote to support its marketing, with Dave Russell, a Gartner research VP for storage technologies and strategy, saying: "Today customers often implement disparate tools for near-CDP, encryption key management and data vulnerability management, but the marketplace needs to evolve to a more unified endpoint data protection solution."

The service will be available in May 2008 through authorised Datacastle MSPs and priced on a subscription basis from $19.95 per user per month.

[Phil Robson, news editor.]