These are all Irish companies offering online backup for businesses.
| Name | Price Point | Notes |
| Databackup.ie | 50GB @ 20 euro a month 60GB @ 60 euro a month |
Basically 1 euro per GB per month. |
| backupanytime.com | No prices online | |
| KeepITSafe | No prices online | |
| DataHaven | No prices online |
Guess which vendor I would recommend.
Correctamundo, the one with transparent online pricing.
Copacetic 
Useful table thanks Joe. May I add:
http://www.shercom.com/backups_prices.html
who (as you can see!) also price
keith
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Let me say in advance that I have a vested interest here as I represent ne of the parties listed above, that being backupanytime.
I can understand the logic of your decision to vouch for the only provider from the list which provides pricing online.
If however providing pricing online was conducive to overall satisfacton, we would all do just that.
Indeed, we did for quite some time. Why is this still not the case?
Here are some of the main reasons.
1 There are a number of levels of online backup which any supplier can provide. The most basic is a remote server with one mirror. This isvery cheap to provide as all clients on this service only use twice their compresed data size. That however does not mean it is the preffered option to provide as all online backup providers will want to offer and be paid for the highest level of protection the client will go for. This increases client data security and availability and supplier revenue (that is important too) so why should we offer the lowest possible price on the web site when we want the client to go for a greater level of protection in everybodys interest. Additionally, why would we put a high level price on the website when potential clients may confuse this with a compeditors lower level protection offering? I am not at all referring to databackup.ie in this light as I dont knoe the protection level they offer at their quoted prices. I do however know it would not be viable for us to offer beyond basic protection at these prices.
2 Most consumers at very small business level only know how much data they have and not the quantity they need to backup. Armed with a simple price per gig they are likely to overestimate the cost.
3 Compression rate vary not only with file types but also from supplier to supplier so even the same price per gig (with the same service offering) can result in very different costs.
4 In this business, prices generally come down all the time (relative to storage prices) and as a consequence we generally offer more data per buck as time goes on. This means not only frequent changes in price per gig but actual price band changes on an ongoing basis. This makes more sense as users generally require more space as time goes on.
5 Not only do the amount of mirrors affect price but also the archive level. A price of €1 per gig with a dual mirror service on a thirthy day roll over may work out significantly worse value than a quad mirror service with a 365 day rollover at even a much higher price.
Regardless of the above, I take your point. Our prices however, are not a secret. If they were, we would not be able to do business. We have however gone from an open book pricing model to a quotation per enquiry model based on the above. This certainly limits our ability to succeed in volume client selling but that is not the market we are seeking. We offer commercial online backup as a personal service. We deal with people who knowingly pay above lowest common denominator pricing and put themselves in a secure data backup environment with a service level which runs from general hand holding to deskside recovery.
Detailed info here:
http://backupanytime.com/blog/?p=63
Thanks
John
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Interesting. While there are some great points made in the comments, I’m not sure why you would use any of these over ElephantDrive or Mozy. Both offer more storage for less (and you pay in $USD, which makes them really cheap).
I’ve tested about a half dozen services (caveat: I haven’t tested any listed here – my apologies, I love Ireland) and these have been the best combination of price, storage, and performance.
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transparent online pricing its not – 50GB for €20 or 60GB for €60, when I went to school this was either 40c per GB or €1 per GB. In this case I would buy 100GB (2 x 50GB) as it works out cheaper than buying 60GB.
You have to ask why the pricing structures vary from provider to provider? Shercom are offer 1GB for €15. Databackup.ie, Shercom, Datahaven and Keepitsafe all use the same platform – Ahsay
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Yvonne – I take your point about their pricing. It’s way off the mark. I’d like a tour of their set up. It just doesn’t feel amicable enough to be legit.
Maybe their backing up to servers in their parents garden shed!!
I’m an IT provider and trust me I’ve dealt with all these guys. In the defence of Datahaven and keepITsafe they seem like professionals.
keepITsafe have tailored an MS Navision Solution for one of our clients and they have 2 or 3 types of software offerings, not just Ahsay. I’ve also seen their network first hand, it’s impressive.
Datahaven look after 2 or 3 of our clients for data backup and I presume they use Ahsay. We’ve never had any issues of lost data. I haven’t seen their network but I was assured by a friend in the profession that its up to standard.
One thing I will say in defence of Ahsay is, it works, and works well. In fact when compared to central databank it came out on top for us.
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Yvonne Says:
“You have to ask why the pricing structures vary from provider to provider?”
Hi Yvonne
My name is Tom and I am the owner of DataBackup.ie , just to address your points above there is a big difference in price in regards our Individual Account and the Small Business Account, however there is a reason our pricing model is structured this way.
Of coarse as you can see on databackup.ie , the Individual account account is for single machine, and the Small Business account has been designed to backup a company’s entire network up to 5 workstations and a server.
The Individual account was created for people who maybe might not have a network just yet, and are running their business from their notebook or maybe a single workstation.
I dont think a person starting up in business should pay as much as a a company with a full office, do you? 🙂
Ahsay also charge us for user license, so the more machines we install the software on the more we are charged our end. There are also charges for modules and the number of users on certain modules.
Support costs in regards to technical support and also sending out engineers costs more on the bigger accounts.
Most issues on the Individual accounts can be resolved over the phone.
So bottom line Individual accounts cost us less to sell than the Small Business one’s as per the price difference.
I hope this answers your question.
Have a super day
Tom
p.s
great post Joe
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Hi Yvonne
Also just in regards to “Databackup.ie, Shercom, Datahaven and Keepitsafe all use the same platform – Ahsay”
We have invested about €90,000 in our hardware and infrastructure, in addition to recurring costs of our backup networks which exceed €5,000 a month and growing.
All the above providers might use the same software vendor, however there can be a huge difference in what they are actually offering.
We would always recommend a site visit with your data backup provider, to confirm you are in compliance Data Protection laws.
Tom
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Hi Yvonne
Im intrigued. How do you know which platform all of thes companies use?
You even know the platfor for databackup.ie despite the fact that you are enamoured by their pricing model. Any chance you represent the only company for which you do not mention a platform? Backupanytime.com (:
So tell us Yvonne, which company do you represent. How do you know so much about everyone else?
Kevin
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Yvonne, the databackup.ie pricing is the most transparent of all those being discussed here. They wont have a problem with you using 100 Gigs as two 50 Gig plans. There is no attempt at deception here. They are offering greater value per gig at the higher purchase options. This is universal, not just in online backup but in just about every business.
The more you spend the greater value you should generally expect to get. It’s called bulk purchase and its not new.
You were thought correctly in school and that is why you recognised the best value purchase option. I reckon you owe an apology to databackup.ie
“Transparent online pricing it’s not” – when in actual fact it is the most transparent.
This was the crux of my post earlier. The price per gig is dependent on the quantity of data. The amount of space you fit per gig depends on how well the data compresses and the attractiveness of a client to a backup company (lets not pretend this is not an importnat factor in any business) is also related to the clients local I.T. setup and investment which will allow the backup company to provide effective services and support.
So a price per gig on a website doesn’t mean much other than to attract the x per gig brigade. We have had enquiries on our website looking for terrabytes of space and later disovered the did not have the connectivity to make use of it.
Despite bottom line price comparisons and any such fanfare it will always come down to service and value for money. Online backup is rarely a setup and forget product. It can take considerable time in some cases to setup but once running effectively and serviced properly, price per gig is way down the list of priorities.
This is someones data we are talking about. Imagine it was yours. You would consider more than price per gig and be happy to receive discounts at higher usage levels.
John
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I placed a second post here earlier but it appears not to have appeared.
Yvonne (who left no url) suggested that databackup.ie pricing is not transparent. It is actually the most transparent. Her issue is that she would go for 2*50 GB plan rather than 1*60 GB. I dont think databackup.ie would have any issue with this. They are simply offering better value at the higher usage levels. This is good practice and quite normal with almost every product and service.
I felt she both was wrong and harsh. Things got worse then with John c’s comment (again no url provided) which really isn’t worth repeating as it is based on a maybe followed by scurellous remarks.
Given that these people didn’t identify themselves and have made groundless negative remarks about databackup.ie I think people will draw their own conclusions about this.
I can assure you however that these people have nothing to do with backupanytime and I think its fair to say they are unlikely to be linked to databackup.ie
I think its a pity that this post which started off so well has degenerated in this fashion with the most transparent price provider being applauded by the blog owner and visiting competitors and then being castigated by anonymous visitors.
John O’Neill
http://www.backupanytime.com
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Hey Max
A very good comment, and the two US company’s you mentioned are growing very quickly indeed. and have a good name from what I read on many forums like webhostingtalk and sitepoint
However compliance with the data protection laws do come into play when moving data outside of Ireland & the EU
The EU Data Protection Directive and the Data Protection Acts impose conditions on the transfer of personal data to countries outside of Europe that are not considered to provide an “adequate� level of data protection.
In broad terms, a data controller that has a need to transfer large quantities of personal data outside of Europe must put in place a contract
that ensures that the transferred data will benefit from European standards of data protection. The EU Commission has approved a number of ‘model
contracts’ that can be used for this purpose.
Apart from the legal aspects, there are many benefits to having your data in Ireland and with an Irish Company, let me mention a few
1. Obviously support and dealing with a company that has a local presence is a huge advantage.
Who would care more about your business a local provider or bob in customer support over in the US ?
2. Connection speeds to datavaults will be much quicker to Irish Data Centres as there will be less latency than connecting to US Servers.
3. Backup Providers in Ireland offer excellent advice and guidance on best backup procedures, and in compliance with Irish data laws.
4. You are supporting an Irish Company and the Irish economy.
5. Most providers now offer a seeding service, where they go out to your offices locally and take your backup (if its big) and preload it on their datavaults, so your uploads will only be incremental meaning you will be fully backed up from the first night of service and your not maxing your line out for days trying to upload 60 gb at once.
Uploading gigs of storage to the US could take a lot of time.
6. Irish companys charge Irish VAT, which most companys require when making purchases
7. Most companys in the US will only take credit card, which in my own personal opinion not all Irish Companys are keen on when it comes to recurring charges.
A lot of Irish backup providers offer installs by qualified engineers.
I hope this displays some advantages for people.
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Hey Max
A very good comment, and the two US company’s you mentioned are growing very quickly indeed. and have a good name from what I read on many forums like webhostingtalk and sitepoint
However compliance with the data protection laws do come into play when moving data outside of Ireland & the EU
The EU Data Protection Directive and the Data Protection Acts impose conditions on the transfer of personal data to countries outside of Europe that are not considered to provide an “adequate� level of data protection.
In broad terms, a data controller that has a need to transfer large quantities of personal data outside of Europe must put in place a contract
that ensures that the transferred data will benefit from European standards of data protection. The EU Commission has approved a number of ‘model
contracts’ that can be used for this purpose.
Apart from the legal aspects, there are many benefits to having your data in Ireland and with an Irish Company, let me mention a few
1. Obviously support and dealing with a company that has a local presence is a huge advantage.
Who would care more about your business a local provider or bob in customer support over in the US ?
2. Connection speeds to datavaults will be much quicker to Irish Data Centres as there will be less latency than connecting to US Servers.
3. Backup Providers in Ireland offer excellent advice and guidance on best backup procedures, and in compliance with Irish data laws.
4. You are supporting an Irish Company and the Irish economy.
5. Most providers now offer a seeding service, where they go out to your offices locally and take your backup (if its big) and preload it on their datavaults, so your uploads will only be incremental meaning you will be fully backed up from the first night of service and your not maxing your line out for days trying to upload 60 gb at once.
Uploading gigs of storage to the US could take a lot of time.
6. Irish companys charge Irish VAT, which most companys require when making purchases
7. Most companys in the US will only take credit card, which in my own personal opinion not all Irish Companys are keen on when it comes to recurring charges.
A lot of Irish backup providers offer installs by qualified engineers.
I hope this displays some advantages for people.
Tom O’Connor
http://www.databackup.ie
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Hi Kevin
I think its obvious enough that Yvonne is no friend of ours. Regarding our own system, again no secret. Heres the beef.
We have used Ahsay, RBS, Asigra and Attix5. We are currently running a demo with Vembu. We will continue to offer multiple software options as we find the usability and support for each one shifts between upgrades. Our hardware is all Dell Blade servers (since May 08 upgrade, previously we used standard rackmount servers) with our primary and secondary data locations being Dublin and Galway. We also have the option through partnership to mirror outside of Ireland should a client so wish.
Our Galway (secondary location) facility may be visoted at any time as it is our own. Our Dublin (primary location) is partnered and may be visited by appointment.
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ive been jumping between here, backupanytime and datababkup to see if yvonne responds but no show ah
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Hi Ladies & Gents
I stumbled across this blog while reviewing our web stats from yesterdays Sunday Business Post article.
I have to agree with John and Tom, some comments made are unfair and untrue.
The market is becoming more competitive, we (online backup providers) should be creating product awareness rather then having heated discussions over pricing. With over 300,000 SME’s in Ireland alone there is plenty of work for us all!
My 2 cents,
Darragh
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A short addition to Tom’s points on why you would choose an Irish provider.
Something that was a big issue for me when I started providing online backups was to access the time to recovery requirement for a customer. Restoring individual files is no big issue but if you have to restore 50GB of files you don’t want to have to do that over the Internet. If the encrypted files are in Ireland then the provider has the option to copy them to a portable disk and physically drive them to a customer. If you have a US or other provider then you are forced to do it over the Internet or wait for a courier.
Keith Shirley
Shercom Ltd
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Hi Darragh
Nice post in The Post! Things are obviously good for you. I must be in the right business!
John
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Putting aside price transparency for the moment, cost should not be the deciding factor. Platform, location and support should be your criteria list also. 90%+ of the business in Ireland is run on 3 platforms; Asigra, LiveVault and Ahsay. All three have their strengths and weaknesses, and all three are available from multiple providers. In broad terms, Asigra does enterprise, Ahsay does small business, and LiveVault is in the middle. Asigra is a bit spendy, Ahsay is low cost, and LiveVault is in the middle. We do Asigra, which can be overkill for many end-users (and IT staff), but it will backup almost anything. Navision oddly is the one thing we steer clear of, because it’s almost impossible (without a specific agent anyway) to do an automated hands-off backup of it.
Location: as Tom from databackup.ie said above, if you’re an Irish business you’re almost certainly bound by the Data Protection Acts. The only safe way to stay compliant is to keep your data in the EU, so forget about US providers. They’re fine for your family photos (I recommend Carbonite!) but you’re taking chances with business data. Initial backups and bulk restores are also a pain in the ass if you need to send them overseas. It’s totally illogical having to worry about geography when selecting an online service, but that’s the law for you.
Service: my company is a trade supplier of online backup (although not to anyone who’s commented so far). We provide the capacity and our resellers are the interface with the customer. As such I see a *lot* of what goes on behind the scenes. One reseller in particular charges over twice what a rival does, but their customers love them because they are the ones that phone *you* when your backup didn’t run last night. We’ve had resellers in the past who would sell backup for peanuts, but wouldn’t pick up the phone if a customer had a problem….. Their customers didn’t stay with them for long.
One last thing on price; every backup platform has their own way of calculating disk usage, so 1GB of Ahsay may hold more or less than 1GB of Asigra (which has two different storage calculation methods). And Yvonne, databackup.ie are perfectly transparent in their pricing. Not very logical, but totally transparent 🙂
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In fairness Gary, you seem to forget the amount of issues you had using Asigra in Interxion , trying to support your client base from your Claire
I hope things are going much better for you now, however I remember some days it was impossible to get you, and having to call a virtual office all day long
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Gary Pigott
“And Yvonne, databackup.ie are perfectly transparent in their pricing. Not very logical, but totally transparent ”
Your public comment is stating our Company pricing model is not Logical, and could be considered liable and damaging to our business.
I dont know how familiar you are with our business model but let me assure you we are doing very well.
I would suggest you amend your above statement, and remain from making such attacks in the future.
I prefer to focus on my business and keep advancing our technology and offerings to benefit the consumer, than to squabble on the web for no reason.
Mark
As amusing as it is to me seeing Gary getting it into the neck after his unprovoked attack on my business, this conversation is really going in the wrong direction.
Silly bickering from backup providers will do the industry more harm than good.
Tom
http://www.databackup.ie
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Max: We only ever (and still do) use Interxion for colo. We wouldn’t use their Asigra service in place of our own as it’s operated out of Holland, with all the complications discussed above. They’re nice guys and good at what they do, but…… To be honest, if you were chasing me for support you were phoning the wrong guy. We staff a helpdesk for a reason.
Tom: Relax. I’d consider it illogical because as Yvonne said, 100GB was cheaper than 60GB. That’s all. Nothing personal and I wasn’t making an attack on your business.
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LOL, I thought the hosting infighting was bad!
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A few of the guys were a bit cranky last night 🙂
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Anyone know where Yvonne is from yet?
I found this and reckon it may be the same person:
“Yvonne Says:
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Stephen, while I havent visited many ’specialist’ backup providersâ€? I’m in no doubt that some are storing data on inexpensive SATA drives, in standard servers, etc. sitting in offices. Most backup providers in Ireland are using Ahsay and when I say most, I would reckon 95% (Keepitsafe, Datahaven, Host-IT, Strencom, Bondi-Group etc). and most will tell you they are the biggest providers in the country. Take Arion Backup they claim to have invested in infrastructre in 2 data centres when in fact they just resell for Keepitsafe. Databackup.ie state they backup into 2 data centres, DEG & WebWorld. WebWorld is an office in an industrial estate which databackup.ie happen to share. I dont think you could call this a data centre. My point is you get what you pay for, it’s also important to look at the compines selling the services.”
Wow, angry person. Must be an interested party. Which company?
You can read the full post and comments here.
http://joedrumgoole.com/blog/2006/11/03/virtual-storage-and-network-backup-review/
John
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Steve, you just miss the fisty cuffs , of the shared hosting business 😀
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I happen to love webworld, have been working with them years, will get some photos up from webworld in the next few days.
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