Barry Levine, newsfactor
EMC said other versions of Mozy, including enterprise PCs, have about 700,000 users worldwide and about 6.2 billion files backed up.
Two Gigs Free
Mac users can get two gigabytes of online backups free, or they can pay $4.95 per month for unlimited backups. The service automatically backs up data, and thus provides protection against hard-drive crashes, accidental deletion, natural disasters, or theft.
Mozy's security protection includes a 448-bit Blowfish encryption for files, and file transfers are protected by a 128-bit SSL connection. EMC said the transfer encryption is the same as that used for online banking.
Following a first backup, only incremental changes are backed up, making them faster. Mozy stores 30 days of older file versions as well as the most recent backup. For recovery, files can be downloaded from Mozy's Web site or ordered on a set of DVDs.
Brad Shimmin, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, noted that off-site automatic backup "caught on with enterprise a few years ago," and now it's becoming more popular among consumers.
He added that the MozyHome for Mac service is similar to a .Mac account available through the Mac OS. The difference, he said, is that the user is getting a secure connection and the storage is most likely in the same data center as Mozy's enterprise service.
Other Mac Services Coming
EMC is a major provider of information infrastructure technology known for products such as EMC Retrospect. Mozy was acquired by EMC in 2007, when it bought Berkeley Data Systems, and it is part of the EMC Cloud Infrastructure and Services Division.
MozyHome for PCs is already available, and the Mac version has been in a beta test since April 2007. Its release is part of an effort by EMC to offer more solutions for the consumer. It has also recently purchased Iomega, a well-known maker of drives for the consumer and small to midsize businesses.
But EMC may soon have more company in the Mac auto-backup space. Backup service Carbonite is expected to offer a version for Macs later this year. Itronis Technologies has also said it will offer a similar service, for both Mac and Linux, although no time frame has been announced.
EMC will also offer Mac support to its business services, MozyPro and MozyEnterprise, later this year.
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