Vodafone and Decho Team Up on Cloud Services

Mobile phone carrier Vodafone has announced today a strategic partnership with Decho Corporation, a subsidiary of EMC, aimed at the development of a series of cloud-based services. According to the duo, the upcoming services are meant both for business customers as well as for end users, and they will enable customers to back up their digital content, which will then be securely stored and protected.

The Vodafone PC Backup service will not only offer the possibility to easily and securely back up data from the computer, whether it’s work-related or personal files, but it will also enable users to easily access the data, as well as to view and share content from their account via their PC, be it a laptop, desktop or netbook, via a web browser.

“Our customers are often using a range of connected devices each day, with different information and data contained on each one,” said Huw Medcraft, director of Mobile Broadband, Vodafone. “Vodafone PC Backup will enable them to centrally store this content, providing users with the added reassurance that as a Vodafone customer their files - be they critical work documents for businesses or family photographs - will be there when they need it and accessible through a variety of devices and across both fixed and mobile networks.”

According to the two companies, the new service will come to business customers with a series of additional features, including the presence of a web-based console for management, which will enable administrators to control the storage allocations and policies for multiple users. The new PC Backup services are added to Vodafone's offering that already include PC and mobile anti-virus protection.

The Vodafone PC Backup will be available for users both via fixed and mobile connections, while being accessible via a browser on desktop PCs, laptops, and netbooks. The new service is expected to come to an array of European markets where Vodafone is already present, is based on the Mozy online backup service operated by Decho, and should be launched before the end of the ongoing year.

“The explosive growth in both business and consumer information is driving demand for new personal cloud services to help people protect, organize and enrich their most valuable information,” commented Harel Kodesh, CEO of Decho Corporation. “Building on the proven Mozy online backup service will differentiate Vodafone's services and make it easier for millions of people to access and manage the information they need to do their job or run their lives each day.”