Trend Micro SafeSync: Better Cloud File Sharing for SMBs?

Security specialist Trend Micro is taking its data protection expertise and applying it to the cloud backup market with today’s launch of Trend Micro SafeSync for Business. The company boasts SafeSync isn’t just the most secure backup and file-sharing solution available to cloud service providers – it’s priced to move for SMBs, too, at around $90 per user per year and 50GB of storage per user. If SafeSync for Business sounds like a business-focused version of a Dropbox-like service, you’re not far off-base.

Trend Micro refers to the solution as “file server as-a-service.” When a user saves his or her own file, a copy automatically is pushed into the Trend Micro cloud and back down to each connected device. What’s more, it can be set to work on individual team folders – in the example given, Paul saves a lyrics sheet to a SafeSync-connected folder, and John, Ringo and George get the most recent revision almost instantly.

The company is also promoting the native SafeSync clients it has made available for Microsoft Windows and Apple OS X desktops, as well as Google Android and Apple iOS  apps. And if you don’t use any of those platforms, SafeSync files are still available through a standard web browser.

For partners, Trend Micro SafeSync has other plusses, including the fact that it’s completely brandable. Licenses are sold on a per-organization basis: that 50GB per user can be doled out however the administrator needs. Prices start at $90 per user per year for organizations with three to five seats, with a minimum of $75 for 51 to 100 seats. Intriguingly, Trend Micro has stated a lack of interest in pursuing companies any larger than that.

In short, Trend Micro is hoping to provide its channel partners with a solution that’s secure and makes collaboration easy. But while the company is heavily promoting the cost savings of SafeSync over solutions like Dropbox, Mozy and Box.net, Trend Micro still has its work cut out for it.

Follow Talkin’ Cloud via RSS, Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for Talkin’ Cloud’s Weekly Newsletter, Webcasts and Resource Center. Read our editorial disclosures here.