I’ve received some interesting feedback from IT folks concerning Backup and Recovery. Many have written in saying they are still using antiquated tape backup devices and are maintaining libraries. Some have talked about tape failure and subsequent data loss. One even described a tape theft.

Tape backup also involves a great deal of expense, both in terms of equipment, media and especially personnel. These costs are not always immediately apparent, especially the costs of maintaining the tape library.

I did a little more research into the adoption of cloud based backup solutions and found some interesting statistics from Microsoft. In a survey of SMB, Microsoft found that 64% of shops that don’t currently use cloud services have security fears and 45% still fear not having decent controls over their data. Worse, as many as 42% think the cloud is unreliable in general. Much of this fear is being driven by the hype associated with the so-called hacking of celebrity photos in the cloud and even by Hollywood with the release of movies like Sex Tape.

The interesting thing is that the study also uncovered that the actual experience of those SMB’s who moved to a cloud solution is far different from these fears. In fact, these adoptive companies report that the cloud is reliable, secure and provides privacy benefits. In fact, 94% found the cloud more secure than their previous tape solution, 65% found it more reliable and 62% claimed it provided more privacy. These SMB’s are finding advantages that they didn’t expect.

Perhaps the best news for SMB’s implementing a cloud solution is that it allows for more time for their I.T staff to work on revenue generating projects and even can generate additional capital for the growth of their business.

Tricerat’s Simplify Backup is a cloud based backup and recovery solution that is simple to install and configure. Critically, your data is encrypted and is stored in secure installations operated by EMC Corporation, the world’s leader in data storage. This solution provides a low cost, high availability method for complete data protection and recovery.

Update: Citrix did a blog post about the top 5 myths people believe about the cloud.