offsite backup services

A remote backup service or online backup service is a service that provides users with an online system for backing up and storing computer files. Remote Backup Service Providers are companies that have the software and server space for storing files.

Online backup has been in use by large corporations for quite some time. Recently however, online backup systems have been released at price points that make them useable by the average consumer and/or small business.

In the past, online backup systems were built around client programs that would run a scheduled software program (typically once a day). This program compresses, encrypts, and transfers to the remote backup service provider's servers. US Data Trust: Offsite Backup, Offsite Server Backup Service.

There are other technologies that are now available in the market, including continuous data protection (commonly referred to as CDP), which is widely available for consumers and small businesses. It has the advantage of reducing RPO, but substantially increases the bandwidth consumed.

The consumer and small to medium enterprise (SME) online backup industry has moved in stages - with early vendors launching systems that were designed to network backup of corporate workstations. These products worked well in a LAN based environment or over the public internet.

Current consumer online backup companies include beta software offerings and/or free to paid backup services.