32 Free Data Storage Offerings To Help Reduce COVID-19 Impact

Storage vendors are making some of their software and hardware technology available for no charge to help researchers, businesses, work-from-home users, and partners run their businesses and work remotely during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Help From The Storage Vendor Community During The Pandemic

Stay-at-home orders across the country have forced businesses both large and small to find ways to get all or most of their employees set up for remote work at record numbers, and solution providers to help out. An MIT survey conducted in early April estimated that 34.1 percent of Americans who four weeks earlier were commuting to work are now working from home. This, combined with the 14.6 percent of workers who reported working from home before the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, means that almost 50 percent of American workers now work from home.

This shift in workers from the office to their homes has resulted in a major impact on IT infrastructures, leaving businesses looking at how to keep their employees productive in less-than-ideal settings.

For such businesses, storage vendors have been introducing free data storage technologies ranging from simple data protection software to help home workers keep their data safe to large research institutions researching the very nature of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Some of these free data storage offerings are limited in time or duration, while others could have long-lasting impact on organizations. In any case, they may bring welcome relief to issues around the management and protection of data during this pandemic.

CRN has collected information on 32 storage and hyperconverged infrastructure vendors with free data storage offers targeted at helping the new and the veteran home works and businesses cope with COVID-19. Turn the page, and be prepared to be amazed.

Acronis Cyber Files Cloud

Acronis is offering its Acronis Cyber Files Cloud file sync and share technology as a free service until July 31. The Singapore and Schaffhausen, Switzerland-based company's technology is an easy and secure cloud offering that lets service providers expand their product portfolio, brand it as their own service, reduce customer churn, and realize incremental revenues. Using Acronis Cyber Files Cloud, clients can work with the content they need from wherever they are and on any device.

Arcserve Cloud Direct

Arcserve, Eden Prairie, Minn., is helping businesses protect remote laptops quickly with direct-to-cloud backup and disaster recovery that does not require any on-prem hardware and is remotely managed through a cloud native console. Companies can receive 5TB of free cloud storage for 120 days with Arcserve Cloud Direct.

Axcient Anchor and CloudFinder

Denver-based Axcient is offering free licenses of its Axcient Anchor and Axcient CloudFinder technologies through June 30. Axcient Anchor keeps data on an on-premise file server for performance and reliability while making the data available in the cloud by continuously backing up files for any point-in-time restores. Businesses can also securely share files from anywhere at any time without VPNs. Axcient CloudFinder is Axcient's Microsoft Office 365 backup technology guaranteeing businesses' Microsoft data is safe and secure in an environment that partners can manage and control.

Carbonite Endpoint Protection and Carbonite Backup for Office 365

Carbonite, part of Waterloo, Ontario-based OpenText, is offering two of its data protection offerings free of charge at least through April, with extensions of the offer possible depending on how the COVID-19 pandemic is progressing. The first is Carbonite Endpoint Protection, a hybrid cloud-based endpoint backup product that helps protect data on desktops, laptops, and tablets against common data loss scenarios including ransomware, human error, hardware failure, loss and theft. The second, Carbonite Backup for Office 365, provides automatic backup for desktops, tablets and mobile devices, and protects data across the entire Microsoft Office 365 Suite, including SharePoint, OneDrive, Exchange, and Teams.

Clumio Backup as a service

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Clumio, is offering organizations on the front lines fighting the pandemic free access to Clumio’s secure backup, built on native AWS services, as a service for 90 days. This offer gives healthcare and related organizations instant access to data protection capacity to ensure SLAs (service level agreements) can be achieved even when capacity runs low on existing systems. It also gives customers vulnerable to ransomware attacks a rapidly deployable, “air-gapped” way to help ensure they have a good copy of data in the event of a ransomware attack. This 90-day free offer applies to services started before December 31.

Cohesity cloud archiving and Helios mobile app

Cohesity wants to help stretch tight budgets with a free 1-year, 20-TB subscription to the San Jose, Calif.-based company's cloud archive offering with DataPlatform. Cohesity also just unveiled a mobile app for its Helios global data and application management technology to help IT staff manage data clusters from mobile devices. In combination with Cohesity Helios, the mobile app helps IT staff working remotely to monitor the health and performance of their Cohesity infrastructure, manage support cases, and get alerts about anomalies, including potential ransomware attacks, at no additional costs.

Commvault Metallic Endpoint Backup & Recovery

The new SaaS-based Commvault Metallic Endpoint Backup and Recovery technology is now available at no cost through September 1 with unlimited Microsoft Azure backup storage for up to 1,000 endpoint devices. Tinton Falls, N.J.-based Commvault is making this offer to help organizations protect critical company data that increasingly lives at the edge, such as on laptops being used at home, and who may be struggling with data management and protection as they pivot their IT infrastructures in support of a sudden, growing remote workforce.

DataCore Software Healthcare Heroes

DataCore Software, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., has upgraded all existing healthcare clients to premium technical support at no cost for improved SLAs (service level agreements) and prioritized response. In addition, DataCore is offering a proactive health check of those clients' storage environments along with access to DataCore Insight Services (DIS), the company's cloud-based, predictive analytics platform. The 90-day "Healthcare Heroes" offer continues through June.

Data Expedition free accelerated data transfer Software for COVID-19 Researchers

Data Expedition, Inc. (DEI) is offering free 90-day licenses of its ExpeDat and CloudDat accelerated data transport software to researchers studying COVID-19. This software transfers files up to multiple terabytes in size from storage to storage, across wide area networks, and among research institutions, cloud providers, and personal computers at speeds the Boston-based company said are many times faster than those of traditional software. Requests to extend licenses will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to facilitate continuing research.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise HPE Cloud Volumes

In the wake of COVID-19, HPE Cloud Volumes delivers an enterprise cloud storage service to help businesses support unpredictable demand, manage cash flow, and modernize data protection. The offering, which is available until July 31, lets organizations quickly spin up storage capacity on a pay-as-you-consume basis in the cloud without compromise to enterprise performance, availability, and data integrity SLAs. To support businesses during this pandemic, HPE is offering 10 TiBs of free capacity per month for 90 days for US businesses and a $3,500 credit for each silver or gold subscription for all geographies. This offer can be added on to existing credit and discount promotions.

Hitachi Vantara Hitachi At Home

The Hitachi at Home program from Santa Clara, Calif.-based Hitachi Vantara aims to help organizations and their employees cope with COVID-19 by providing Hitachi Content Platform and Hitachi Content Platform Anywhere software for free for 90 days. This offering gives users secure, compliant access to critical data from any device and any location. It also provides data protection and recovery in the event of data loss, device failure, or ransomware attack. Hitachi Vantara is also working with VMware, which has extended free trials of that company's Horizon 7 virtual desktop technology for up to 90 days and up to 100 users. Registration for Hitachi At Home is available through June 30, but may be extended depending on the COVID-19 crisis.

HYCU for Azure

HYCU for Azure provides application aware data protection, data migration, and disaster recovery for Azure users. The software, from Boston-based HYCU, applies to Azure users and partners with workloads running on Azure, data migration of workloads to Azure, and using Azure as a disaster recovery target for on-premises workloads. To address the growing need for companies to handle the overwhelming impact of the rise in remote and at-home working in light of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, HYCU is making its HYCU for Azure data protection functionality available free of charge until June 30.

IBM Storage Solutions Offers for COVID-19

IBM Storage is offering free access across a select group of its storage and software-defined storage technologies.

Storage Insights Pro, which is available to IBM storage clients to assist in multi-vendor storage management, capacity planning, problem resolution, is now available with a free 90-day license. Customers purchasing a FlashSystem storage array by September 30 can use Storage Insights Pro with no charge until December 1. IBM is also offering a free remote consultation until Dec. 31 with its Client Storage Assessment for in-depth insights on current multi-vendor storage environments and opportunities.

Igneous DataDiscover

DataDiscover from Seattle-based Igneous remotely deploys via a virtual machine in minutes and then begins to quickly scan and index all NAS data wherever it resides, across however many different storage platforms an organization may have. Users see a global view of all NAS data and system capacities, and get a configurable ‘heat map’ based on specific policies. DataDiscover also groups data according to whether it is hot or cold, and filters data by such metadata as time last accessed and time last modified. It is available at no charge through September.

Infinidat unlimited COD and FLX consumption

Waltham, Mass.-based Infinidat is offering customers who are either under a CapEx Capacity-on-Demand or OpEx FLX capacity free use of that capacity for a minimum of 30 days, which can also be extended based on the COVID-19 crisis and individual customer needs. COD (Capacity on Demand) is reserve, unpurchased storage capacity on existing Infinidat CapEx systems. FLX is Infinidat OpEx storage capacity, billed monthly. Up to 100 percent of installed capacity can be used for 30 days at no additional charge. After 30 days, Infinidat will work with customers to accommodate their expected storage growth for the remainder of the year.

Liqid dedicates compute cycles to Folding@home COVID-19 research

The Folding@home project focuses on disease research by enabling disparate IT users and organizations to donate compute cycles to help run complex disease modeling scenarios. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, participants in the project have directed substantial energies and resources on better understanding how proteins in the virus function. Broomfield, Colo.-based composable infrastructure and NVMe storage provider Liqid has folded thousands of work units over the past few years, and is currently dedicating as many compute nodes as possible for Folding@home COVID-19 research.

MSP360 Managed Backup for Desktop

MSP360, a Pittsburgh, Penn.-based provider of multi-cloud data backup and disaster recovery technology, is offering free MSP360 Managed Backup for Desktop licenses in addition to other zero-cost resources to MSPs during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. All new Windows and macOS desktop operating system endpoints installed through April 30 are free for 90 days. After 90 days, MSPs are given the option to subscribe or opt-out of the software. New and existing MSP360 customers qualify for the deal.

Nutanix Special Financial Assistance Program

Nutanix, San Jose, Calif., on April 22 introduced the Nutanix Special Financial Assistance Program (NSFAP) as a way to show its commitment to support partners worldwide as they work to sustain business operations due to COVID-19. The NSFAP program immediately provides authorized Nutanix participating reseller partners with extended payment terms at no additional cost to give them increased financial flexibility. Those partners are then expected to offer these extended payment terms to their customers. The program is available through May 31.

Pure Storage Pure-as-a-Service

Pure Storage, Mountain View, Calif., is offering three months of its Pure-as-a-Service consumption model for all new customers with a 12-month contract term of 50 TiBs at no cost in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This program offers pay-as-you-go billing, with no overprovisioning or additional assets on the books for three to five years. It moves storage to OpEx (operating expense) budgets, with storage fully managed by Pure Storage, and lets capacity to scale up, down, or out as needs change. Pure Storage said it is not experiencing inventory or supply chain issues, and can quickly fulfill orders. The company said it is also providing expanded enhanced services to all customers involved in the fight against the pandemic at no additional cost.

Quantum StorNext technical training

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, San Jose, Calif.-based Quantum is offering StorNext technical training free to partners through June 30. These are instructor-led, multi-day courses conducted in a virtual classroom that teach students to become Quantum StorNext experts while they are working from home. StorNext combines a high-speed, parallel file system and data management software to address the challenges of sharing, preserving, and analyzing massive volumes of video and other unstructured data. StorNext creates a storage environment that provides high performance and advanced data management for large, data-driven workloads.

Qumulo cloud-native file software

Qumulo, a Seattle-based provider of hybrid cloud file storage and file services, is offering its cloud-native file software for free through July to public and private sector medical and healthcare research organizations that are working to minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus. With Qumulo’s cloud-native file and data services, organizations can launch workloads with large amounts of compute power to analyze large data sets using their trusted applications for research to capture, process, analyze and share data with researchers distributed across geographies. Qumulo’s software works seamlessly with the applications medical and healthcare researchers use, as well as with A.I. and analytics services.

Rubrik Polaris Radar

Rubrik Polaris Radar can help enterprises quickly discover the blast radius of a cyberattack, understand what needs to be recovered, and initiate one-click file level recoveries. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Rubrik is offering free access to Rubrik Polaris through July 10 to help organizations detect anomalies by leveraging insights on suspicious activity to accelerate detection. It can analyze threat impacts and prevent data loss with granular visibility into which applications and files were impacted. Rubrik Polaris Radar also helps accelerate recovery and minimizing downtime by replacing multi-step processes with a few clicks.

Scale Computing HC3 with Leostream VDI

Indianapolis, Ind.-based hyperconverged infrastructure technology developer Scale Computing is helping businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in two ways. First, it is offering the Leostream VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) technology from Waltham, Mass.-based Leostream at no charge for 30 days in combination with the purchase of a Scale Computing HC3 system to help provide secure remote access to existing physical or virtual machines from anywhere. The company is also offering a free hyperconverged infrastructure appliance with the purchase of three appliances of equal or greater value, as well as a 25-percent discount on Leostream VDI licenses. These offers are available through June 30.

Servosity free Office 365 backup and endpoint protection

Servosity, a Greenville, S.C.-based data protection software developer, recently unveiled Servosity #WFH (work from home), a limited time offer exclusively for MSPs. The offer lets MSPs offer their clients, who may be working from home for the first time, free Office 365 backups and free endpoint protection with unlimited storage through August 31. Through this offer, MSPs can help ensure their customers are protected with such capabilities as the ability to back up SharePoint, Outlook, and OneDrive files without going on-site to install software, securely upload Office 365 and endpoint backups to Servosity’s AWS-backed cloud, and consolidate backup reports into a multi-tenant reporting system with a daily digest email.

SIOS AppKeeper

SIOS AppKeeper from San Mateo, Calif.-based SIOS Technology helps maintain business continuity and reduce administrative efforts and stress. Through June 30 , SIOS AppKeeper is being offered free of charge to help businesses whose users are working remotely maintain ongoing operations and help ensure business continuity. SIOS AppKeeper reduces stress and protects business continuity by automatically responding to service outages on Amazon EC2 instances to help ensure applications remain available and free from service interruptions and downtime during disasters and helping eliminate the need for manual intervention.

StorCentric's Retrospect data protection software

Retrospect, part of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based StorCentric, is offering free subscription licenses for every Retrospect Backup product. Those free licenses end 90 days from when the user starts. Retrospect comes with broad platform and application support, and lets users protect every part of their computer environment from home offices to corporate environments with on-premise storage and off-site cloud storage. Retrospect helps ensure homes and businesses can recover quickly from accidents, hardware failure, theft, and disaster. It offers complete coverage of Windows, Mac, Linux, VMware, and Hyper-V environments, with cloud storage support for offsite locations like Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, and more.

StorONE S1 Enterprise Storage Platform

New York-based StorONE is offering the use of its S1 software-defined storage technology to businesses free of charge until July 31. This includes StorONE's S1 Enterprise Storage Platform, which aims to simplify businesses' storage infrastructures with software-defined storage technology. It also includes StorONE's S1 Platform which lets businesses turn existing servers and storage into systems with complete data-protection services to ensure mission-critical information is always available, immediately recoverable, and remains durable during times of crisis.

Trilio TrilioVault

Trilio, Framingham, Mass., is offering TrilioVault cloud-native data protection software licenses free of charge for six months to healthcare, entertainment, hospitality, and travel industry customers. The TrilioVault platform supports backup and recovery in Kubernetes containers, OpenStack clouds, and Red Hat Virtualization environments. It backs up and recovers an entire application—including its data and metadata—and protects data in cloud-native applications. This offer is aimed at getting backup and recovery software into the hands of people who need it most, and does not require additional customer commitments.

Veritas System Recovery and Desktop Laptop Option

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Veritas has extended its free trial periods and removed user limitations for both Veritas System Recovery (VSR) and Desktop Laptop Option (DLO) as a way to help customers stay protected while transitioning to remote working. DLO provides centralized backups of endpoint files and folders to help ensures remote workers’ data is protected. VSR provides fast restores of entire machines when total failure occurs, minimizing downtime.

WekaIO: WekaFS free on AWS for 120 days

WekaIO is offering life sciences researchers and financial services institutions the use of the WekaFS Weka file system free on Amazon Web Services for 120 days. The Campbell, Calif.-based company said it is looking to accelerate research, discovery, and analytics for people looking for a cure or vaccine for COVID-19, as well as those who are looking for ways to exit the current recession.

Zadara HIPAA-compliant Enterprise Storage

Zadara is offering healthcare, education, government, and retail organizations 90 days of enterprise storage, either on-premises, in the cloud, or hybrid, for $0 to ensure IT-related storage capacity isn’t a distraction at this critical time. The Irvine-based company is offering up to 80 TBytes of HIPAA-compliant enterprise storage which can be provisioned in the cloud or on-prem, with no migration fee, and is providing 24x7 unlimited access to expert IT support. The program extends through June 30, 2020.

Zerto IT Resilience Platform

Boston-based Zerto is offering its IT Resilience Platform for free for six months to organizations on the frontline of the coronavirus crisis as a gesture of gratitude. This includes local healthcare, government, food supply, and other organizations. Specifically, Zerto is providing free licenses for the protection of up to 50 virtual machines, premium support at no charge, implementation assistance and online training, and free on-demand educational labs. This offer ends September 30, 2020.