Comcast is promoting an Internet-based
backup service that promises to save photos and files
of customers who fry
their hard drives — and
through which the nation’s
largest cable operator
also is looking to bump up incremental revenue.
The Comcast Secure Backup & Share service, offered
through a partnership with EMC’s Mozy online-backup
subsidiary, includes a desktop application that allows
customers to back up and restore files from a computer
or mobile device. Th e service also provides a “vault” feature
that lets users access and share the files with friends
and family members through a personalized URL.
Comcast began offering the service in December and
is now actively promoting it, according to spokeswoman
Jamila Patton.
All of the cable operator’s high-speed Internet customers
can use up to 2 GB of storage, included with their subscription.
But that’s not a whole lot; 2 GB is enough to store
roughly 200 high-resolution photos, 480 music files or one
standard-definition movie file.
For more storage, Comcast also offers a 50-GB storage
plan for $4.99 monthly or $49.99 annually, and a 200-GB
storage plan for $9.99 monthly or $99.99 annually. The MSO
imposes a monthly 250-GB usage cap on all broadband users.
“As customers create and consume more digital media
content, the need for online backup and storage increases
signifi cantly,” said Cathy Avgiris, Comcast’s senior vice
president and general manager of communications and
data services. “Secure Backup & Share is embedded into
our high-speed Internet service so you can retrieve and
share your personal digital media from any Web-enabled
or wireless device.”
Comcast had 15.9 million high-speed Internet customers
as of the end of 2009. Mozy, which was acquired
by data-storage giant EMC in 2007, has more than 1 million
customers and has 25 Petabytes (more than 25 million
Megabytes) of information stored at its data centers
worldwide.
Other service providers offering online-backup services
include Verizon Communications and Cablevision Systems,
which last fall partnered with Boston-based online backup
services firm Carbonite.
