Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Iron Mountain, Microsoft form data protection and storage pact

By Mass High Tech staff

Iron Mountain Digital, the technology arm of Boston-based document storage giant Iron Mountain Inc., and Microsoft Corp. have announced a data protection and backup collaboration. The agreement enables users of Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager to backup data for short- and long-term protection to Iron Mountain Digital’s CloudRecovery off-site backup and recovery system.

The CloudRecovery system operates with Microsoft Data Protection Manager, which provides online data protection. Users can store data anywhere from 30 days up to seven years, then have the data sent to Iron Mountain’s data center archives.

The offer is expected to be available early this year, the two companies said.

Iron Mountain Digital was founded in 2004. In 2006, it blended its own business with the acquisition of Framingham-based Connected Corp. ($117 million in 2004) and Marlborough’s LiveVault Corp. ($50 million in 2005).

In early 2008, Southborough-based Iron Mountain Digital physically grew its operations, moving sales and marketing workers to a building adjacent to its headquarters and doubling its physical plant by adding 18,000 square feet for research and development and quality assurance. Digital storage competitors include Hopkinton-based EMC Corp., Pennsylvania-based SunGard Data Systems Inc., and two California-based firms, Zantaz Inc. and EVault Inc.