Mozy Acquired by EMC

I have written several times about Mozy, a great online backup service for use with Windows and Macintosh computers. Mozy stores up to two gigabytes free of charge and will even store unlimited data for only $4.95 a month. You can read my earlier articles about Mozy at http://tinyurl.com/2dlo5w.

Apparently, I was not the only one who thought it was a great online backup service. So did EMC, one of the giants in disk storage technology. EMC has now purchased Mozy.

Writing on the Mozy web site at http://mozy.com/blog/2007/10/4/emc-mozy-acquisition-announcement, Mozy found Josh Coates writes:

What does this mean to you?

Mozy has always been and always will be simple, automatic, and secure. That will not change. We will continue to innovate and improve our product and service for both consumer and business customers.

The big change is that you will get the benefit of all the stability and security that a large public company has to offer. EMC has been around for almost three decades: Your data will be in the hands of the most trusted global leader in information management.

Here is the complete announcement:

EMC Acquires Berkeley Data Systems, Provider of Mozy Online Backup and Recovery Services

HOPKINTON, Mass. — October 4, 2007 — EMC Corporation, the world leader in information infrastructure solutions, today announced that it has acquired Utah-based Berkeley Data Systems, Inc., a privately-held provider of online information backup and recovery services. Berkeley Data Systems provides Mozy – the industry's premier online subscription services for the protection of data that resides on desktops, laptops and remote office servers. The transaction will not have a material impact on EMC revenues or EPS for 2007.

"Mozy's technology and online delivery model has proven itself to be one of the industry's most admired offerings for customers looking to safely and cost-effectively backup and recover their digital information stored on desktops, laptops, and remote office servers," said Tom Heiser, EMC SVP, Corporate Development and New Ventures. "The acquisition of Mozy is a natural extension of EMC's leadership in the protection and security of personal and business information. We will continue to invest in Mozy's full portfolio of online backup and recovery services and advance the Mozy brand in the marketplace."

"I have been researching and developing internet-scale storage and information management solutions throughout my career," said Josh Coates, founder and former CEO of Berkeley Data Systems. "EMC and Berkeley Data Systems are a natural fit, and I'm confident that EMC is the right organization to take Mozy to the next level. I look forward to working with EMC to continue innovating in the storage and information management industry."

Among Mozy's numerous service accolades this year, Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal writes that he prefers Mozy; Time Magazine readers ranked Mozy.com as the #1 website in 2007; Consumer Reports recommended Mozy to readers on the strength of its feature set and control capabilities; and Smart Computing gave its "Smart Choice" award to Mozy for its full backup abilities, ease of use, and private key encryption option.
About EMC

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) is the world's leading developer and provider of information infrastructure technology and solutions that enable organizations of all sizes to transform the way they compete and create value from their information. Information about EMC's products and services can be found at www.EMC.com.

Comments

[Peter]

Holllyyy Mozzzzzzzzzzzzzyyyyy!

This is incredible!

All the rumors before the official announcement have been captured here:
http://www.backupreview.info/index.php?pid=news_article&id=1778

And of you will also find several articles after the official announcement in the home page of the above website.

Cheers,

[Elaine]

I wonder how long it will be before they raise the price?

[L G Greene]

Well, perhaps this would explain why I cannot seem to get any answer whatsoever from Mozy technical support as to why there is such great difficulty in restoring a couple of files I have backed up on their system. Presumably in time as things get more organized, they will be able to be responsive.

[JINNY COLLINS]

Has anyone been able to download and ACTIVATE Mozy for a Mac? What's the best way to get help?

[Dick Eastman]

Yes. I have Mozy installed and running on the MacBook I am using at this moment. It seems to work well. I downloaded the Mozy installation file, double-clicked on it and followed the instructions that appeared on the screen. A minute or two later I performed the first backup.

I didn't do anything "special." All I did was enter the data asked for during the installation.

- Dick Eastman

[Happy Dae]

I've used Mozy as a 2-gig thumb drive for a while now. It's nice to get to the library, and still have my resources available online. I've had no problem transferring files back and forth, so I hope L G Greene gets a resolution soon. As the blurb indicates, it's reasonably simple to use, and the security is a plus.

Happy Dae.
http://www.ShoeStringGenealogy.com/ssg1.htm

[Ann Turner]

Mozy is not backing up everything in a timely fashion for me. Specifically, it doesn't back up the AOL Personal Filing Cabinet for one of my screen names often enough, and it doesn't back up my Family Tree Maker FTW data file -- unless the file happens to be open at the time a backup is run! Both AOL and FTM have an automated backup scheme of their own, and I'm wondering if they reset some sort of flag that makes Mozy think they don't need backing up. Has anyone else noticed this? Mozy tech support didn't provide me with a solution. Those happen to be among my most important files, of course.

[Judith Arnn-Knight]

Ann--hate to appear dumb--how do you know Mozy is not backing up your FTM info? I have that in my backup configuration but have never needed to restore my files so I had assumed they were backing it up. Of course it is one of my most important files and one of the main reasons I am paying for the service. I have been a lax in backing up on CD since beginning to use Mozy about 2 years ago.

thanks, judy

[Judith Arnn-Knight]

Ann--hate to appear dumb--how do you know Mozy is not backing up your FTM info? I have that in my backup configuration but have never needed to restore my files so I had assumed they were backing it up. Of course it is one of my most important files and one of the main reasons I am paying for the service. I have been a lax in backing up on CD since beginning to use Mozy about 2 years ago.

thanks, judy

[Ann Turner]

Judy, pretend you want to restore the file, then compare the date stamps of the file on the Mozy server and your hard drive. I am using FTM 2006.

[Nancy]

Ann,
Fyi - Mozy is backing up my FTW file correctly. I am using FTM 11.

[Bart Hansen]

The new version, 1.8.4.7, insists on displaying its status screen on boot-up. This delays the start of my ZoneAlarm firewall, as well as being annoying. The techs at Mozy tell me to wait for the next update, but I would like to get rid of this status screen. Using their Hide option does not help for successive boots. Any ideas?

[Harvey Mechanic]

" Using their Hide option does not help for successive boots. Any ideas?"
I had the same problem but found the fix. Go to your Start/Programs/Startup and you will probably see there two Mozy Programs are starting upon your bootup.

MozyHome Status
Mozy Status

Both were put in there by default upon your Mozy installation. If you remove the Mozy Status from the Startup you will not have the status screen to hide upon any bootup and you will not lose any functionality of Mozy Backup as you can access the status by going to the Mozy icon in your tray.

Harvey Mechanic
Attorney At Law
Harvey108@hotmail.com