Joining an increasing number of open source developers delivering products for Microsoft servers, Zmanda this week rolled out a cloud-based backup and recovery product for Exchange and SQL Server.

Appropriately named the Zmanda Cloud Backup (ZCB), the product is based on Amazon's Simple Storage Service (S3), as well as on the 3.0 version of the company's Amanda Enterprise data protection software.

Company officials said they are beginning to see some traction among those cost-conscious users looking for lower-cost solutions. As proof they cited 50% growth from the third to the fourth quarter.

"Our message of low cost and flexibility is definitely jiving with IT managers," Zmanda CEO Chander Kant said.

Highlighting the product's capabilities, company officials said the new backup solution makes it possible for Exchange and SQL Server users to automate their backup and recovery processes as well as store their files in the native Windows format. The latter features allow IT shops to both access and reuse those files without ZCB being present.

According to Kant, users can encrypt data before it's transferred, which lends that data improved security and greater bandwidth. The pricing model consists of a $50 one-time charge for each Windows-based server plus 20 cents per gigabyte a month for the storage used and the data transferred.

Zmanda has plans to add other service providers to its cloud offering, including Microsoft's Storage Cloud, company officials said.

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