In 2008 the developers at CloudBerry Lab were working on custom network backup software for an enterprise customer when they realised the value of backing up files to Amazon’s cloud storage, where files are safely off-site and accessible from anywhere. In October 2008 the company released its first product for the Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), CloudBerry Explorer, offering access to online files through an easy to use Windows application. Explorer comes in both free and professional versions, with the paid-for version adding features including compression, encryption, and automatic synchronization for a single one-off price.
CampusLIVE is a nationwide network of hyper-local college portals at more than 150 universities. The company was founded in late 2007 by students at UMass Amherst. The founders were named in the Top 5 Young Entrepreneurs in America in 2009. “We utilize Amazon Web Services including Amazon S3 and Amazon CloudFront to serve all of our static image files on millions of page views per month.” says CampusLIVE’s Founder & CTO Jared Stenquist. “CloudBerry S3 Explorer PRO has been instrumental in managing both these services. By utilizing the tool, our development team has been able to automatically apply correct headers in a fraction of the time we would otherwise be able to. Cloudberry’s products continue to be a must have for CampusLIVE’s development team.”Cloudberry Backup followed a year later, in October 2009. CloudBerry believes that backup should not be needlessly complex, and its backup solution lets customers select files to be copied and set a schedule through a simple wizard. Restore is just as straightforward. CloudBerry Backup also exists in a version tailored for Windows Home Server. A few years ago, backing up files to a remote location was expensive and complex; now with Amazon S3 in conjunction with user-friendly software such as CloudBerry Backup it is accessible and affordable for anyone.
Virtual Global, inc provides an enterprise cloud platform for deploying federal and health IT systems, built on Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud. Customers include NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). “The Cloudberry team was there when we needed help restoring a very large file. It’s comforting to know that people stand behind the product.” says Cary Landis, President, Virtual Global, inc. A distinctive feature of CloudBerry backup is that it uses open formats rather than a proprietary data format. This means you can access files using other S3 clients if you wish. It is cost-effective for customers, because it is an outright purchase with no recurring fees other than what is paid to Amazon for the S3 service itself.
Why Amazon S3? CloudBerry Lab has been impressed with the reliability and uptime of S3 as well as its flexibility and commodity pricing. “We did not have to invest in our own data center to offer online storage,” says CloudBerry’s Pavel Bondarchuk, VP of Business Development. “The solution is readily available from Amazon.” Larger businesses need not miss out. CloudBerry Backup Business Edition, due in the second quarter of 2010, will also backup multiple computers. This version uses a backup agent installed on each computer controlled by a central administration console. Users can relax as backup is handled for them.
CloudBerry Explorer for Windows Mobile, now in beta, overcomes the limitations of mobile storage, making Amazon S3 available from your device. Photos and videos can be moved from the device into the cloud, freeing up space. CloudBerry Security Gateway, also in beta, is aimed at customers who need to manage Amazon S3 access for multiple users. The customer installs CloudBerry Security Gateway on a Windows web server. Users connect to the Gateway rather than directly to Amazon S3, enabling simplified security based on username and password, or using Windows authentication (coming soon). Since end users do not authenticate directly with Amazon S3, these sub-accounts can be added and removed without compromising the security of the Amazon S3 account. The Security Gateway also supports user quotas.
Amazon Case Study: Cloudberry Lab
Date: 28-08-2013