Providers of data protection software are starting to move into the mobile computing space with an expanded agenda. Instead of just providing a backup and recovery capability, they are starting to see mobile computing as an opportunity to get into file sharing and synchronization across multiple mobile computing devices.
To that end, Acronis this week acquired GroupLogic, a provider of file access, sharing and synchronization software for mobile computing devices in the enterprise. According to Dmitri Joukovski, vice president of product management for Acronis, GroupLogic will continue to operate as an independent business unit. But the longer-term goal is to unify the data protection process across Windows, Linux and mobile computing devices, says Joukovski.
GroupLogic CEO Chris Broderick, who is now senior vice president of mobility solutions for Acronis, says one of the things that separates GroupLogic from the host of other companies providing similar capabilities for mobile computing devices is that its software allows an IT organization to partition the management of corporate and personal data in a way that doesn’t require the IT organization to actually manage any personal data on the mobile computing device if they so choose.
With the rise of virtualization and cloud computing, a series of rapid changes in terms of how data protection is provided is starting to take shape across the enterprise. Those shifts will induce just about every provider of traditional backup and recovery software to expand their own offerings in multiple directions. In the case of Acronis, that choice seems to be in the direction of an acquisition that not only gives the company a footprint in the mobile computing space, but also opens up whole new lines of product revenue.
Ultimately, Acronis is betting that rather than cobbling together various point products, enterprise IT organizations will want one proverbial data protection and file synchronization throat to choke. The race is now on to be that vendor.
