Data protector Yosemite acquires FileKeeper

Yosemite Technologies, a provider of data protection software for servers, has acquired FileKeeper, which focuses on data protection software for desktop and laptop computers.

FileKeeper's system protects user files on notebook and desktop computers running the Windows operating system by storing a version of a file every time it is saved. This technology, known as file-level versioning continuous data protection (CDP), lets users review old versions of a file. That technology will complement Yosemite's existing backup solutions for servers operated by small and medium-size businesses (SMBs), said George Symons, chief executive officer of Yosemite.

Yosemite, a 55-employee company in San Jose, California, did not say how much it is paying for the five-person FileKeeper, of Knoxville, Tennessee. Although the acquisition was completed in early January, on Tuesday Yosemite is introducing its first product from the combined companies.

The acquisition better positions Yosemite to compete against data backup and recovery products from larger companies such as Symantec's Backup Executive, IBM's Tivoli Storage Manager, and CA's BrightStor ARCserve Backup, Symons said.

"Most existing products are very hard to use and require a lot of administrator time. (SMBs) don't have IT administrators with the time for it and they can be fairly cost-prohibitive," he said.

Although the 10-year-old Yosemite has already targeted the SMB market, but has found that relatively little data is stored on these companies' servers, compared to large enterprises, he said. Conversely, more of an SMB's sensitive data is on laptop computers that are a small business owner's portable office.

"In that class of folks, people need a complete solution, and they need it to pretty much run by itself," said Lauren Whitehouse, a storage industry analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. "Yosemite needed to get to the desktop and laptop because that's still where folks keep a big batch of their data."

Yosemite isn't as well known as IBM, Symantec or CA, but it has 3.5 million customers for its server data protection and they can be sold the new product that protects laptops and desktops, too, Whitehouse said.