Hidden Costs of Backup Solutions: Sockets and Cores

We are all too familiar with the concept of hidden costs. You work with your supplier or vendor, and you like their published pricing because it matches your budget. Everything goes well… Until you get the quote (or worse, the invoice) with a much higher figure. What happened? You probably misunderstood the licensing model or there were fees and charges that you were not aware of.

It could happen with anything you purchase for home or for work, and backup solutions are no different. Let’s talk about potential hidden costs when selecting backup software.

If you run a virtual or even physical infrastructure, you should be familiar with the per-socket licensing model. VMware vSphere is licensed per socket. Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter and Standard is also licensed per processor (socket). Similar models apply to many other operating systems. There is good logic behind licensing virtual hosts per socket. The socket (CPU) gives processing power, and the more sockets you have – the more computing power you get for your production applications, such as your SQL database server or your ERP.

However, backup is different – it does not require a lot of computing power. It moves data from one place to another – it needs storage and bandwidth, not sockets or CPUs.

Yet, some backup vendors are hiding behind the “license consistency” concepts and inflate costs by unfairly charging customers for each socket.

Here is an example: John has a 2-socket VMware server, which runs a SQL server. Jack has a 4-socket machine also with an SQL server. John pays $1734 for the Enterprise edition of his backup and replication software every year. Jack pays $3468 for exactly the same thing — every year.

Jack is not getting better data protection or faster recovery. He is not getting anything that is worth double the amount of what John gets. In simple words, Jack is a victim of a rip-off.

Jack (and you) should go with the backup solution from the vendor who treats all customers fairly – Acronis Backup 12. There are no hidden costs associated with the per-socket licensing. Acronis Backup’s license is per system (host) protected – whether you choose to get a subscription or buy a perpetual license. Maybe it is time for you to stop overpaying and switch to an easy, complete and affordable solution?

Check out Acronis Backup 12 today and be treated fairly by the world’s fastest and easiest backup solution.