EMC buys Mozy online backup service

EMC Corp. came clean on Mozy today.

EMC officially confirmed rumors and published stories that it spent $76 million to purchase the company that owns the Mozy online backup services. EMC will operate Mozy's parent Berkeley Data Systems Inc. as a separate business within its New Ventures Group, and Berkeley Data Systems will maintain its American Fork, Utah, headquarters. Berkeley Data Systems founder and CEO, Josh Coates, will join EMC, according to EMC spokesman Michael Gallant.

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Greg Schulz, analyst at The StorageIO Group, said the acquisition opens several doors for EMC. "If you look at it through the traditional EMC model, you have to scratch your head. But if you look at it from outside the box, it opens up some interesting opportunities," he said.

Customers are increasingly turning to storage service providers for backup, and storage backup vendors are tailoring their products to Software as a Service (SaaS). Mozy also gives EMC an extension of its Web-based delivery model.

EMC offers Web-based delivery of security services via its RSA Security acquisition and for collaboration software as part of its content management business. "I think you'll see more from EMC in this space in the future," EMC's Gallant said, of Web-based IT services.

Berkeley Data also gives EMC another backup technology to go with products it gained through the acquisitions of Legato Systems Inc., Dantz Development Corp. and Avamar Technologies. Customers and analysts are watching to see if, and how, EMC integrates these products. "How many backup technologies can one company have?" Schulz asked. "We'll see if they combine any of these."