A Look at Axcient’s Patented Technology – Take a Look Under the Hood
Savvy MSPs are demanding more from their data protection systems. Higher automation, enhanced intelligence, and lower costs are just some of the necessary features required to combat today’s cybersecurity threats. Axcient’s patented technology answers that call with modern, comprehensive business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) solutions that deliver reliable backups and rapid recovery.
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Axcient is a 100% MSP-dedicated solutions provider, so our development and product teams are wholly focused on improving the lives of MSPs and their SMB clients. In doing so, we’ve developed a number of proprietary technologies patented exclusively for our MSP partners. With these unique features and critical capabilities, Axcient partners gain a competitive edge in the market for new clients.
Keep reading to learn…
- What Axcient technologies are patented.
- How they are helping MSPs ensure reliable backup and disaster recovery (BDR).
- Where you can see these features to compare with your current solution.
AutoVerify: Backup Monitoring with Automatic Verification
AutoVerify technology monitors backups and performs automatic nightly tests to verify the integrity of backups. It comes built into both deployment options for our BCDR solution, x360Recover and x360Recover Direct-to-Cloud (D2C). While the technology has always been included in the appliance-based version of x360Recover, we recently extended the capability to our hardware-free infrastructure to enhance existing nightly checks.
All day, every day, AutoVerify performs continual monitoring of backups and automatically virtualizes the latest backup recovery point for each system. Each night, AutoVerify tests endpoints on both Axcient vaults as well as self-hosted private vaults. Using intelligent adaptive backup VM testing, AutoVerify performs numerous deep volume assessments to check bootability, operating system health, data corruption, and file system and application integrity. Unlike other backup tests, this patented technology accounts for things like pending Windows updates. It will detect that updates are being applied while the test VM is booting up and allow them to complete for greater test accuracy.
Testing is segmented by tiers to allow ‘lighter’ tests – like simple boot testing with a screen capture, to be performed more frequently than ‘heavy’ tests – like full volume check disk (CHKDSK) integrity scanning. Testing procedures include capturing a screenshot of the login page, performing heartbeat checks to the testing services running on the VM, verifying the functionality of Microsoft Volume Shadowcopy Services (VSS), and completing a full CHKDSK scan on all data volumes. Only after AutoVerify has confirmed the health of the data on the protected system does it initiate automatic backup verification.
5 Benefits to Automatic Backup Verification >>
AutoVerify: Automatic Self-Healing Response
Also included in AutoVerify are patented self-healing operations unique to Axcient. If backup failures are detected, automation remediation technology takes action to heal the failures. When a small portion of the backup is bad or corrupt in some way, that portion of the data is automatically re-backed up during the next backup.
Additionally, custom alerting and escalation rules properly route notifications to the assigned parties. Technicians can then step in to address issues as necessary and confirm the results of self-healing actions. Good or bad, test insights are displayed in the x360 Portal where Axcient partners can confirm and prove backup stability to themselves and clients for peace of mind.
“With technology like AutoVerify, we can rest easy knowing that Axcient has built-in protections for our clients’ data. We have confidence in Axcient’s solutions and appreciate that we have a vendor partner going the extra mile to ensure our clients’ businesses are up and running if the worst happens.” – Paul Charles, CTO at Data Trends
Local Cache: Cloud-Driven Dedup Cache
Local Cache is an optional, fully independent D2C feature that makes it possible to perform backups without a chain. Built on hierarchical probabilistic algorithms and sophisticated computer science interventions, Local Cache completes the heavy lifting of deduplication in the Axcient cloud with just 0.2 GB/TB. That’s 50x less RAM/CPU locally than was previously possible.
Before we invented our Local Cache technology, backups required a chain or deduplication and 8-16 GB of RAM. Because Local Cache requires so little RAM, we call it a cache instead of a backup appliance. Now, MSPs can pair D2C with an inexpensive local USB or NAS device to substantially decrease recovery and failback times to reduce downtime after an incident.
Local Cache is perfect for MSPs who want to eliminate or deprioritize on-prem storage and directly backup servers and workstations to the cloud instead. With unlimited storage and retention included in all Axcient solutions, MSPs can accumulate any type of local storage without worrying about overages, surprise fees, or consolidation. MSPs get the ease and affordability of cloud-based BDR, with the speed of local backup, without an expensive on-site appliance.
Data Sheet: Local Cache for x360Recover Direct-to-Cloud >>
Fast Phoenix: Local Virtualization from Local Cache
Today’s cyberthreats aren’t slowing down, and neither are Axcient’s developers and technicians. The fight against cybercrimes is never over, and Axcient continues to look for new innovations that can help MSPs and their SMB clients. Our latest patent, ‘Fast Phoenix,’ was submitted in late 2021.
This recovery center technology enables our multi-use Direct-to-Cloud hardware-free BCDR solution. Using Fast Phoenix, MSPs can complete image-based backups to the cloud with instant local virtualization from the Local Cloud. No device driver is necessary or anything else that can damage backup efficiency.
Utilizing Patented Technology For MSP Growth
Axcient’s patents extend well beyond these three examples, but these are the latest in our drive to increase automation and usability. Virtual Office, for instance, is made up of several patented technologies, as well as our cloud replication and SLA-based monitoring capabilities. We devote so much time, effort, and resources to developing innovative technology to reduce the burden on MSPs.
Equipped with these patented technologies, MSPs can deliver better services, differentiate themselves from other solution providers, and grow their MSP through streamlined efficiency. With each new technology that Axcient develops, MSPs have one less thing on their plate to deal with. Instead of manually checking backup verification every single day, AutoVerify automatically does it and provides a record of the results. Now, MSPs can reallocate the resources used for manual tasks toward value-added activities.
Self-healing capabilities provide an automatic first step in recovery to swiftly address more significant problems before they become larger. This ensures backup reliability – critical to disaster recovery and data restoration – but there’s no fear of ‘backup burn.’ Instead, MSPs can breathe easy knowing that good backups are always available for business continuity. Similarly, Local Cache accelerates cloud BDR recovery time using fewer resources. Another operational win for MSPs who often juggle multiple processes from multiple vendors. Now, MSPs can enjoy cloud disaster recovery’s strategic and economic promise but still get the speed and ease of local backup.
Axcient was the most robust solution that would allow us to grow. Knowing what we know about where the industry is going, Axcient just keeps getting better. I like the footprint, the development, and the path they’re on from a growth standpoint – so now we’re just riding Axcient’s coattails.” – Neil Hawkins, Partner and COO at LANAIR Group, LLC
See How Axcient Can Empower Your MSP
It’s always a good time to vet your vendors and explore your options in the channel. There’s no better time than now to see what you could be achieving. Discover how Axcient’s dynamic technology innovations respond to today’s cybersecurity landscape for MSP-specific wins.
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About the Author: Carissa Johnson // Product Marketing Manager, Axcient
Carissa Kohn-Johnson has a background in behavioral and physical healthcare technology and information technology and currently works as the Product Marketing Manager for Axcient. She has a lot of MSP Channel experience from planning and attending hundreds of conferences and tradeshows, and found her passion in technology, and working with MSPs in particular. She serves on the Information Services Advisory Board for her community and feels most at home with other technology-forward people. Connect with her on LinkedIn – perhaps you can contribute to the Axcient blog?
More Great Stuff From Our Blog:
Check out some other interesting pieces from our blog: More advances in Usability and Automation: hot new capabilities in automation and usability releases for AutoVerify, failback for Hyper-V, and Local Cache in x360Recover, or get the skinny on how we can offer unlimited data retention and storage with no complicated tiered pricing (Seriously!), learn how you can ditch pricey on-site appliances with Local Cache for Direct-to-Cloud BCDR., we dove into how chain-based backup works and why chain-free is the way to be, we talked with Jason Phelps from Huntress Labs about planning for the next ransomware attack, and hear our CEO David Bennett explain why the current cybersecurity landscape means traditional backup is dead.