Symantec plans to shut down Backup Exec.cloud

By Darshik Jariwala - November, 27th 2013

Symantec has announced that it is planning to shut down its backup solution, Backup Exec.cloud as it lacks features such as mobile and content-sharing and it isn’t the right platform to deliver it.

The news first came to light when they disclosed the news in an email it to a channel partner which was seen by IDG News Service. Symantec also posted an FAQ on their website on Tuesday but later removed it for reasons best known to them. The users will be informed through email starting early next month. The company says they won’t be selling any new subscriptions or accept any renewals from 6th Jan 2013. It is not clear if they selling the subscriptions or renewals at this point of time. Probably not.

The FAQ said, “Customers want features such as synch & share and mobile access. Backup Exec.cloud was not designed with these features in mind. As a result, Symantec has decided to discontinue Backup Exec.cloud in order to focus on more productive and feature-rich cloud-based applications which include this type of functionality.”

PCWorld spoke with Symantec asking for their official statement on the matter to which they replied saying they have decided to streamline the products for better services. Here’s the official statement, “As we align with our new offering strategy and efforts to streamline our product range to provide fewer, more integrated solutions for our customers, Symantec has made the decision to retire Backup Exec.cloud. We are firmly committed to doing everything we can to help our partners and customers successfully navigate this process.”

It would be safe to say this could well be the part of the reorganization taking place in the company. Back in Jan 2013, Symantec had announced their plans to “Streamline” it software lineup and said that these changes would be taking place within the next 6 to 24 months.

Although the company has removed the post (FAQ) from their website, we will update this post as and when we find more information on it.

About Backup Exec

Symantec announced Backup Exec.cloud in 2012, the purpose of which was to provide cloud based backup solution. It helped many business and offices to backup their data over the cloud.

Although they presently develop Backup Exec, it has actually been a part of many other companies in the past. Almost every company who bought it, eventually sold it after a very brief period of time. Symantec kept it the longest since it bought the company from VERITAS Software back in 2005. VERITAS Software had acquired it from Seagate in 1999. Backup Exec was first created by Maynard Electronics in 1982 and was originally named “MaynStream”.

Source: PCWorld

Photo Credit – Martin McKeay/Flickr