Spare Backup Bid to Sell Monthly Backup Service in a Box -- ADTmag

Spare Backup Bid to Sell Monthly Backup Service in a Box

By ADT Staff
August 23, 2005

Spare Backup began shipping a monthly backup service in a box this week. It is aimed at small-to-medium businesses and home workers. The service is packaged as a product for retail store shelves. The online service provides backup for about 50 cents per day, although the company says retail pricing may be lower if retailers decide to offer discounts. The company is also packaging a software-only version, priced at MSRP $49.99, intended to provide backup data the customer decides to store locally on his or her PC.

It’s the first time any PC backup service has ever been sold off the shelf, the company says. Spare Backup is a Web-based backup service that executes automatic backups without user involvement. The service selects, secures and stores digital files for the user at regular times or frequencies set by the user.

Backup users enjoy the secondary benefit of being able to access their files anywhere, anytime, from any computer, the company says. Security is ensured through three-factor authentication—user name, password, plus a unique, randomly generated code number called a Spare Key. The Spare Key, a wallet-sized card mailed to the user following registration, ensures that no one besides the user—not even Spare Backup—will ever have all three forms of ID necessary to access the account holder's files.

For more information, visit Spare Backup.