Unitrends MSP Review | MSP Directory

Last updated: April 2026

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Quick Answer

Datto SIRIS is a comprehensive business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) solution that integrates hardware, software, and disaster recovery cloud into one platform for MSPs and IT teams.
Its AI-powered screenshot verification feature offers more than 99% accuracy in confirming backup success by analyzing boot states and UI screens.
The solution provides transparent, flat-fee pricing, covering backup, disaster recovery, and cloud storage without hidden costs.
Datto SIRIS is designed to ensure seamless business continuity and data resilience across physical, virtual, and cloud environments.

Datto SIRIS stands as an all-in-one, turnkey business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) solution specifically designed for managed service providers (MSPs) and IT teams. This integrated platform combines essential hardware, robust software, and a dedicated disaster recovery cloud, simplifying data protection and recovery processes. It helps keep business operations running smoothly, even when unexpected disruptions occur. The system protects critical data, minimizes downtime, and ensures quick restoration capabilities. One of its core strengths is the AI-powered screenshot verification, which delivers more than 99% verification accuracy by intelligently analyzing boot states and UI screens, ensuring that successful backups are truly recoverable. This advanced feature reduces false positives and saves valuable technician time. Datto SIRIS also offers a predictable, flat-fee pricing model that covers all aspects of backup, disaster recovery, and cloud storage, removing the complexity and hidden costs often associated with managing multiple vendors and disparate point products.

What is Datto SIRIS?

Datto SIRIS is a comprehensive business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) solution. It integrates hardware, software, and a disaster recovery cloud into a single, unified platform. This system aims to minimize downtime and protect critical data for businesses of all sizes, from small shops to large IT infrastructures. Datto defines SIRIS as an all-in-one, turnkey solution designed to ensure seamless business continuity.

The core purpose of Datto SIRIS is to simplify backup and disaster recovery. It removes the hassle of aligning disparate point products by providing a single, integrated platform. This approach ensures quick recovery and robust security. For MSPs, SIRIS delivers everything needed to keep client businesses running smoothly, without hidden fees or the confusion that comes with juggling multiple vendors. The solution is built to deliver data resilience across physical, virtual, and cloud environments.

Datto SIRIS is more than just a backup tool; it's a complete solution stack. It unifies backup with integrated cloud disaster recovery. This means that if a system goes down, critical operations can be virtualized instantly, either locally on the SIRIS appliance or in the cloud. This capability allows businesses to get back to work fast, avoiding extended downtime and significant data loss. The platform is hardened, meaning it includes robust security features to protect data against various threats. Trust in verified, tested backups and the high availability of the Datto Cloud are central to its promise of keeping businesses up and running.

The solution is designed to simplify the complexity of robust data protection. It consolidates backup and disaster recovery management into one seamless platform. This consolidation eliminates the headaches that come with managing multiple, separate systems. Whether an organization has a small IT footprint or a large, complex infrastructure, SIRIS aims to handle backups effortlessly. This focus on simplification helps MSPs manage their clients' data protection needs more efficiently and effectively. The goal is to provide reliable business continuity and disaster recovery that strengthens cyber resilience for protected businesses.

Datto SIRIS aims to turn backup success into recovery certainty. It does this through advanced verification methods and a fully integrated approach. The platform ensures that when a backup is marked as successful, it is indeed recoverable when needed most. This certainty is crucial for businesses that cannot afford prolonged outages or data loss. By combining all necessary components into one solution, Datto SIRIS offers a streamlined and dependable path to maintaining operational continuity and data security. The solution supports a wide range of environments, allowing for comprehensive data protection across different IT setups. It's a system built for preventing data loss and ensuring operations can continue even through unexpected disruptions.

Integrated Hardware and Software

Datto SIRIS integrates specialized hardware with its proprietary software. This combination creates a unified platform for backup and disaster recovery. The hardware, often provided free-to-use, is designed to work seamlessly with the software. This integration simplifies deployment and management for MSPs. It eliminates the need for IT teams to source and configure separate components. The unified approach ensures compatibility and optimized performance, reducing potential points of failure. This design choice helps MSPs offer a robust and reliable service to their clients without the complexity of managing different vendors.

Disaster Recovery Cloud Integration

A key component of Datto SIRIS is its integrated disaster recovery cloud. This cloud infrastructure is specifically designed for rapid recovery and data resilience. It allows for off-site storage of backups and instant virtualization of critical systems in the event of a local disaster. The Datto Cloud is geographically distributed, adding an extra layer of protection against regional outages. This cloud integration is included in the flat-fee pricing, meaning no unexpected costs for cloud administration, ingress, or egress. The secure Datto Cloud ensures that client data is protected and available when needed, providing peace of mind for both MSPs and their clients.

Comprehensive Data Protection

Datto SIRIS provides comprehensive data protection across various environments. It supports physical servers, virtual machines, and cloud environments. This broad coverage ensures that all critical data assets within a business's IT infrastructure are protected. The solution is designed to handle the diverse needs of different client types, from small businesses with basic setups to larger enterprises with complex virtualized environments. Its ability to consolidate management for these varied environments simplifies the overall data protection strategy for MSPs, making it easier to maintain data resilience for all clients.

Scalability for Different Business Sizes

Datto SIRIS is built to cater to a wide range of business sizes. It can effectively serve small businesses with limited IT resources and large enterprises with extensive infrastructures. The platform’s design allows for scalability, adapting to the growing data protection needs of clients. This flexibility is a significant advantage for MSPs, as they can use a single solution across their entire client base, regardless of size. This consistency in technology helps streamline service delivery and support, making it easier for MSPs to manage their operations and drive profitability.

Strengthening Cyber Resilience

The primary goal of Datto SIRIS is to strengthen cyber resilience. It achieves this by providing fast, reliable business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities. In today's threat landscape, businesses face constant risks from cyberattacks, hardware failures, and natural disasters. SIRIS helps businesses withstand these disruptions by ensuring data is protected and recoverable. The solution focuses on minimizing downtime and enabling quick restoration, which are critical elements of a strong cyber resilience strategy. By keeping businesses operational and secure, Datto SIRIS helps clients maintain productivity and trust.

How Does Datto SIRIS Ensure Backup and Recovery Certainty?

Datto SIRIS ensures backup and recovery certainty through advanced verification processes, most notably its AI-powered screenshot verification. This feature is crucial for confirming that backups are not just successful but also truly recoverable when needed. It delivers more than 99% verification accuracy, significantly boosting confidence in the data protection strategy.

The AI-powered screenshot verification for Datto BCDR intelligently analyzes boot states and UI screens. This process goes beyond a simple file integrity check. It simulates a system boot from the backup and visually inspects the operating system's interface. By doing this, it can detect issues that might prevent a successful recovery, such as corrupted system files or configuration errors. This deep analysis helps reduce false positives, which are common with less sophisticated verification methods. When a backup is marked successful by SIRIS, MSPs and their clients can trust that it is genuinely recoverable. This level of certainty saves technician time by reducing the need for manual validation and troubleshooting during an actual disaster. Datto SIRIS Product Page highlights this feature as included at no additional cost, providing clearer failure insights.

Beyond AI-powered verification, Datto SIRIS employs a multilayered approach to ensure data resilience. This includes immutable backups, which means that once data is backed up, it cannot be altered or deleted. This feature provides a strong defense against ransomware and other malicious attacks that attempt to encrypt or destroy backup data. End-to-end encryption secures data both in transit and at rest, protecting it from unauthorized access. The geographically distributed cloud infrastructure adds another layer of resilience, ensuring that backups are safe even if a regional disaster affects one data center. These measures collectively build a robust framework for data protection, aiming to make recovery a certainty rather than a hope.

The platform also includes patented Cloud Deletion Defense™. This feature prevents accidental or malicious deletion of backups from the cloud, providing an essential safeguard against human error or insider threats. Ransomware detection capabilities are built into the system, actively monitoring for suspicious activity that could indicate an attack. If ransomware is detected, the system can alert administrators and help isolate the threat, allowing for rapid recovery from an uninfected backup. Forced two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security for accessing the management interface, protecting against unauthorized access to the backup environment itself.

Datto SIRIS supports rapid recovery from any downtime scenario. It allows for instant virtualization of critical systems. This virtualization can happen either locally on the SIRIS appliance or directly in the secure Datto Cloud. This capability is vital for minimizing recovery time objectives (RTOs). By spinning up virtual instances of servers and workstations quickly, businesses can continue operations with minimal interruption. The ability to restore data from individual files to full workloads provides flexibility, addressing various recovery needs. This comprehensive approach, from proactive verification to rapid recovery mechanisms and robust security, aims to provide unparalleled certainty in business continuity and disaster recovery.

AI-Powered Verification

The AI-powered screenshot verification is a cornerstone of Datto SIRIS's reliability. It moves beyond traditional backup verification methods that only check if files were copied. Instead, it simulates a full system boot from the backup image. During this simulated boot, the AI analyzes the operating system's startup sequence and user interface screens. This intelligent analysis helps confirm that the system is not only bootable but also functional. The accuracy rate of more than 99% means that MSPs can have high confidence in the integrity of their backups, reducing the time and effort spent on manual checks and troubleshooting. This feature is included at no extra cost, making it an accessible and powerful tool for ensuring recovery certainty.

Immutable Backups

Immutable backups are a critical defense against modern cyber threats like ransomware. Once data is backed up to Datto SIRIS, it becomes unchangeable. This means that even if a ransomware attack encrypts a production system, the backup copy remains untouched and ready for restoration. The immutability prevents malicious actors from tampering with or deleting backups, which is a common tactic to hinder recovery efforts. This feature provides a robust layer of protection, ensuring that a clean, uncompromised version of data is always available for recovery, even in the face of sophisticated attacks.

End-to-End Encryption

Security is paramount in data protection, and Datto SIRIS employs end-to-end encryption. This means that data is encrypted both when it's being transmitted (in transit) and when it's stored (at rest). Encryption protects sensitive information from unauthorized access, whether it's moving between a client's network and the SIRIS appliance, or residing in the Datto Cloud. This comprehensive encryption strategy helps clients meet compliance requirements and safeguards their data against breaches. The use of strong encryption algorithms ensures that only authorized personnel can access and decrypt the backed-up data, maintaining its confidentiality and integrity.

Patented Cloud Deletion Defense™

Accidental or malicious deletion of backups can be as devastating as a cyberattack. Datto SIRIS addresses this with its patented Cloud Deletion Defense™. This feature acts as a safety net, preventing backups from being permanently removed from the Datto Cloud without proper authorization and safeguards. It protects against both human error, such as an administrator inadvertently deleting critical data, and insider threats, where a malicious actor might try to sabotage recovery efforts. This defense mechanism adds an essential layer of resilience, ensuring that valuable backup data remains available and protected in the cloud.

Ransomware Detection

Proactive threat detection is a key component of recovery certainty. Datto SIRIS includes built-in ransomware detection capabilities. The system actively monitors backup data and system behavior for patterns indicative of a ransomware attack. If suspicious activity is detected, the system can trigger alerts, allowing MSPs to respond quickly. Early detection is vital for minimizing the impact of an attack and enabling a faster recovery. By identifying ransomware early, MSPs can isolate affected systems and restore from clean backups, preventing widespread data loss and operational disruption.

What Are the Key Features of Datto SIRIS?

Datto SIRIS offers a robust set of features designed to provide comprehensive business continuity and disaster recovery. These features span security, recovery capabilities, and operational simplification, all integrated into a single platform. The solution includes multilayered security, ensuring data resilience against a wide array of threats.

Among its core security features are immutable backups, which safeguard data from tampering and malicious deletion, critical in defending against ransomware attacks. End-to-end encryption protects data both in transit and at rest, maintaining confidentiality and integrity. The geographically distributed cloud infrastructure adds resilience, ensuring data availability even during widespread outages. Datto SIRIS also incorporates ransomware detection, actively monitoring for threats, and forced two-factor authentication to secure access to the management platform. Its patented Cloud Deletion Defense™ further protects against accidental or malicious removal of backups from the cloud, as detailed on the Datto SIRIS Features Overview page. These security measures collectively create a hardened platform designed to keep data resilient against every threat.

The platform is engineered for rapid recovery from any downtime scenario. It allows for instant virtualization of critical systems. This virtualization can occur locally on the SIRIS appliance, providing immediate access to business operations. Alternatively, systems can be virtualized in the secure Datto Cloud, offering an off-site recovery option that ensures continuity even if the local infrastructure is completely compromised. This capability means businesses can get back to work fast, avoiding extended downtime and significant data loss. Datto SIRIS enables quick restoration from individual files to full workloads, providing flexibility for different recovery needs. The trust in verified, tested backups and the high availability of the Datto Cloud are central to its promise of keeping businesses up and running.

Datto SIRIS also simplifies the management of data protection. It consolidates backup and disaster recovery management into one seamless platform. This unification delivers data resilience across physical, virtual, and cloud environments. From small shops to large IT infrastructures, SIRIS eliminates the headaches of managing disparate systems and ensures backups are handled effortlessly. This integrated approach removes the hassle of aligning multiple point products from different vendors, which can often lead to increased complexity and potential vulnerabilities. The goal is to provide a unified platform that simplifies operations, reduces management overhead, and improves overall efficiency for MSPs.

Furthermore, Datto SIRIS offers transparent, flat-fee pricing. This model combines backup, disaster recovery, and cloud storage under one simple, predictable cost. It eliminates hidden and unexpected costs, such as ad-hoc fees for cloud administration, ingress, egress, DR testing, or disaster recovery. This predictable pricing allows MSPs to confidently manage their IT budget or drive profitability for their business. By removing the complexity of multiple vendors and surprise charges, Datto SIRIS helps MSPs offer a clear and value-driven solution to their clients. This economic simplicity is a significant feature, allowing for better financial planning and client relations.

The solution's AI-powered screenshot verification is another key feature, ensuring recovery certainty. It delivers more than 99% verification accuracy by intelligently analyzing boot states and UI screens. This process reduces false positives and the need for manual validation, saving technician time and providing confidence that backups are truly recoverable. This verification is included at no additional cost, enhancing the reliability of the entire BCDR process. It provides clearer failure insights, allowing MSPs to proactively address any issues with their backups before a disaster strikes.

Multilayered Security

Datto SIRIS implements a multilayered security approach to protect client data. This includes immutable backups, which means that once data is backed up, it cannot be altered or deleted, offering strong protection against ransomware. End-to-end encryption secures data during transmission and when stored, preventing unauthorized access. The geographically distributed cloud infrastructure ensures that backups are stored in multiple locations, enhancing resilience against regional disasters. Ransomware detection actively monitors for threats, while forced two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security for accessing the platform. Patented Cloud Deletion Defense™ prevents accidental or malicious deletion of cloud backups, providing comprehensive data protection.

Instant Virtualization

A critical recovery feature of Datto SIRIS is its ability to instantly virtualize critical systems. In the event of a server failure or disaster, businesses can immediately spin up virtual instances of their servers. This can happen either directly on the local SIRIS appliance for rapid on-site recovery or within the secure Datto Cloud for off-site disaster recovery. This capability drastically reduces recovery time objectives (RTOs), allowing businesses to continue operations with minimal interruption. Instant virtualization ensures that employees can access their applications and data quickly, minimizing productivity loss and financial impact during an outage.

Granular Recovery Options

Datto SIRIS provides flexible and granular recovery options. This means that MSPs can restore data at various levels, from individual files and folders to entire applications or full server workloads. This flexibility is essential for addressing different recovery scenarios, whether it's a user accidentally deleting a single file or an entire server failing. The ability to perform granular restores allows for precise and efficient recovery, saving time and resources compared to having to restore an entire system for a small data loss. This precise control over recovery operations enhances the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the BCDR solution.

Unified Management Platform

The unified management platform is a central feature that simplifies operations for MSPs. Datto SIRIS consolidates all aspects of backup and disaster recovery management into a single interface. This eliminates the need to use and manage multiple disparate tools or vendors for different data protection tasks. From configuring backups to initiating recoveries and monitoring system health, everything can be managed from one place. This integration reduces administrative overhead, minimizes complexity, and streamlines workflows for MSPs, allowing them to manage client data protection more efficiently and consistently across their entire client base.

Predictable Cost Model

Datto SIRIS offers a transparent, flat-fee pricing model, which is a significant feature for MSPs managing budgets. This model includes the hardware, software, and cloud storage, eliminating hidden costs. Unlike many solutions that charge for cloud administration, ingress, egress, or disaster recovery testing, SIRIS bundles these services into a single, predictable fee. This financial transparency allows MSPs to accurately forecast costs, improve profitability, and offer clear pricing to their clients without unexpected charges. The predictable cost model simplifies budgeting and helps in building stronger, more trusting relationships with clients.

How Does Datto SIRIS Simplify Operations for MSPs?

Datto SIRIS simplifies operations for MSPs by consolidating backup and disaster recovery management into one seamless platform. This unified approach eliminates the need to manage disparate systems and multiple vendors, which can be complex and time-consuming. It delivers data resilience across physical, virtual, and cloud environments from a single point of control.

By integrating hardware, software, and the disaster recovery cloud, Datto SIRIS removes the hassle of aligning different point products. MSPs no longer need to piece together solutions from various providers for backup, storage, and recovery. This integration ensures that backups are handled effortlessly, whether for small shops or large IT infrastructures. The simplified management allows MSPs to focus more on strategic client needs rather than on the operational complexities of their BCDR tools. This consolidation also enhances efficiency, as technicians can work within a familiar interface for all data protection tasks. Datto's MSP Solutions highlights how Datto aims to power the business of IT for MSPs.

The transparent, flat-fee pricing model also contributes significantly to operational simplification. It combines backup, disaster recovery, and cloud storage under one simple, predictable cost. This eliminates hidden and unexpected expenses often associated with cloud services, such as ad-hoc charges for cloud administration, ingress, egress, DR testing, or disaster recovery. For MSPs, this means confident IT budget management and improved profitability. They can offer clear, consistent pricing to their clients without worrying about surprise bills, which simplifies client billing and strengthens trust. The absence of complex pricing structures allows MSPs to dedicate more time to service delivery and less to financial reconciliation.

Furthermore, the AI-powered screenshot verification feature, included at no additional cost, simplifies operations by reducing manual validation. With more than 99% verification accuracy, it intelligently analyzes boot states and UI screens. This automation frees up technician time that would otherwise be spent manually checking backups. It provides clearer failure insights, allowing MSPs to quickly identify and address any issues, rather than spending hours diagnosing problems during a crisis. This proactive and automated verification process ensures that when a backup is marked successful, it is truly recoverable, streamlining the recovery process when a real disaster occurs.

Datto SIRIS also supports rapid recovery, simplifying the process of getting clients back online. The ability to virtualize critical systems instantly, either locally on the SIRIS appliance or in the cloud, means that MSPs can respond quickly to downtime scenarios. This speed minimizes the impact on client operations and reduces the stress on MSP support teams. The hardened platform allows for quick restoration from individual files to full workloads, providing flexibility and efficiency in recovery efforts. By offering a reliable and fast recovery mechanism, SIRIS simplifies the most critical aspect of disaster recovery, ensuring that MSPs can maintain high service levels for their clients.

The entire solution is designed to ensure seamless business continuity. By unifying backup with integrated cloud disaster recovery, SIRIS provides a complete solution stack. This comprehensive approach means MSPs have all the tools they need within a single ecosystem. This reduces the learning curve for new technicians, standardizes procedures, and improves overall service quality. The elimination of juggling multiple vendors and disparate systems frees up valuable resources, allowing MSPs to grow their business and offer more value to their clients.

Unified Platform for BCDR

The most significant way Datto SIRIS simplifies operations is by providing a unified platform for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR). Instead of using separate tools for local backups, cloud storage, and disaster recovery, MSPs manage everything from a single console. This integration reduces complexity, eliminates compatibility issues between different products, and streamlines the entire data protection workflow. Technicians learn one system, which improves efficiency and reduces errors. The unified platform ensures consistency in data protection strategies across all clients, making management more predictable and less labor-intensive.

Centralized Management

Datto SIRIS offers centralized management for all protected environments. Whether clients have physical servers, virtual machines, or cloud-based data, MSPs can monitor, configure, and manage backups and recoveries from a single dashboard. This centralized control provides a clear overview of the data protection status for all clients. It allows MSPs to quickly identify potential issues, schedule backups, and initiate recoveries efficiently. Centralized management saves considerable time and effort, as technicians don't have to log into multiple systems or interfaces to manage different aspects of data protection.

Automated Verification

The AI-powered screenshot verification automates a critical, often manual, part of the backup process. This automation simplifies operations by automatically confirming the recoverability of backups with over 99% accuracy. MSPs no longer need to dedicate significant staff time to manually test backups, which can be a time-consuming and error-prone process. The system provides clear insights into any verification failures, allowing technicians to address issues quickly and proactively. This automation ensures that backups are always ready for recovery, reducing the stress and effort involved in disaster preparedness.

Streamlined Billing and Cost Management

The flat-fee pricing model of Datto SIRIS significantly streamlines billing and cost management for MSPs. With a single, predictable cost that includes hardware, software, and cloud storage, MSPs can accurately forecast expenses and simplify client invoicing. This eliminates the need to track variable costs associated with cloud usage, such as ingress, egress, or administration fees, which can be complex and unpredictable. Streamlined billing reduces administrative overhead, improves financial transparency, and helps MSPs maintain stable profit margins, allowing them to focus more on service delivery rather than complex financial reconciliations.

Reduced Vendor Management

By offering an all-in-one solution, Datto SIRIS drastically reduces the number of vendors MSPs need to manage for their BCDR services. Instead of coordinating with separate providers for backup software, cloud storage, and recovery hardware, MSPs deal with a single vendor. This reduction in vendor management simplifies procurement, support, and relationship management. It also minimizes the potential for finger-pointing between vendors when issues arise, as Datto provides a complete, integrated solution. This streamlined vendor relationship contributes to overall operational efficiency and reduces administrative burden for MSPs.

Does Datto SIRIS Offer Predictable Pricing?

Yes, Datto SIRIS offers predictable pricing through a transparent, flat-fee model. This approach is designed to eliminate hidden and unexpected costs, providing clarity and confidence for MSPs managing their IT budgets or aiming to drive profitability. The pricing model combines backup, disaster recovery, and cloud storage into one simple, predictable cost.

This flat-fee structure means that MSPs will not encounter ad-hoc costs for various services that are often charged separately by other providers. For example, there are no surprise fees for cloud administration, which can include charges for managing cloud resources. Additionally, the model eliminates costs associated with data ingress (uploading data to the cloud) and egress (downloading data from the cloud), which can quickly escalate with traditional cloud storage solutions, especially during large-scale recoveries. Fees for disaster recovery testing, a crucial but sometimes costly activity, are also included. Furthermore, the overall costs for disaster recovery operations are covered, ensuring that MSPs can initiate recoveries without financial penalties.

This predictable pricing model allows MSPs to confidently manage their IT budget. They can accurately forecast their expenses for business continuity and disaster recovery services, which is essential for financial planning and stability. For MSP businesses, this translates directly into improved profitability. By knowing their costs upfront, MSPs can set clear and competitive pricing for their clients without the risk of unexpected charges eroding their margins. The absence of variable costs associated with cloud usage or recovery events simplifies client billing and helps build trust, as clients receive transparent pricing without hidden surprises.

The "free-to-use hardware" component of the SIRIS solution further contributes to cost predictability. While the specific terms may vary, the general principle is that the hardware appliance, which is central to the local backup and recovery process, is provided as part of the service, rather than requiring a separate upfront capital expenditure. This eliminates a significant initial investment for MSPs and their clients, making the solution more accessible and reducing financial barriers. When combined with the flat-fee service for software and cloud, this approach removes the complexity of dealing with multiple vendors and ensures there are no ad-hoc costs for crucial BCDR elements.

The simplicity of a single, all-inclusive price helps MSPs focus on delivering value to their clients rather than navigating complicated billing structures. It eliminates the need for detailed tracking of data transfer volumes, cloud resource consumption, or recovery event durations, all of which can be time-consuming and prone to error. This streamlined financial model is a key differentiator for Datto SIRIS, providing peace of mind and financial stability for MSPs in the competitive IT outsourcing market. It ensures that the total cost of ownership for BCDR is clear from the outset, allowing for better business planning and client satisfaction.

Transparent Fee Structure

Datto SIRIS employs a transparent fee structure. This means all core services related to backup, disaster recovery, and cloud storage are bundled into a single, predictable monthly or annual fee. There are no hidden charges or complex pricing tiers that can make budgeting difficult. This transparency allows MSPs to clearly understand their costs and communicate them effectively to their clients. It simplifies financial management, as MSPs don't have to track various usage metrics or anticipate fluctuating charges, leading to more stable and predictable operational expenses.

No Hidden Cloud Costs

A significant benefit of Datto SIRIS's pricing is the elimination of hidden cloud costs. Many cloud providers charge for data ingress (uploading), egress (downloading), and various administrative tasks. Datto SIRIS includes these costs within its flat-fee model. This is especially valuable during a disaster recovery event, where large volumes of data might need to be downloaded from the cloud, which could otherwise incur substantial, unexpected egress fees. By bundling these services, Datto ensures that MSPs and their clients will not face surprise charges, even during critical recovery operations or routine DR testing.

Included DR Testing and Support

Datto SIRIS's predictable pricing also covers essential activities like disaster recovery testing and ongoing support. Regular DR testing is crucial for validating recovery plans, but it can be an additional expense with other providers. By including it, Datto encourages MSPs to perform these vital tests without financial hesitation. This ensures that recovery plans are always current and functional. Furthermore, ongoing support for the solution is part of the package, meaning MSPs have access to assistance without incurring additional hourly rates or per-incident charges, enhancing the overall value and predictability of the service.

Simplified Budgeting for MSPs

The flat-fee model greatly simplifies budgeting for MSPs. With a predictable monthly or annual cost for BCDR services, MSPs can accurately forecast their expenses and client charges. This simplifies their financial planning and allows them to offer clear, consistent pricing to their clients. Eliminating variable costs and unexpected fees helps MSPs maintain stable profit margins and reduces the administrative burden of tracking and reconciling complex invoices. Simplified budgeting allows MSPs to allocate resources more effectively and focus on growing their business rather than managing unpredictable expenses.

Free-to-Use Hardware

Datto SIRIS also stands out by offering free-to-use hardware. This means the physical appliance used for local backups and instant virtualization is typically provided as part of the service, rather than requiring an upfront purchase. This eliminates a significant capital expenditure for MSPs and their clients, making the solution more financially accessible. By including the hardware in the overall service model, Datto further consolidates the cost structure, making the entire BCDR solution more predictable and easier to implement without large initial investments.

What Other Solutions Does Datto Offer for MSPs?

Datto offers a comprehensive suite of solutions for MSPs, extending beyond the SIRIS platform to cover various aspects of business continuity, data protection, and IT operations management. These offerings are designed to help MSPs protect clients from downtime and data loss while also simplifying their own business operations.

For business continuity and disaster recovery, Datto provides a range of tools. Besides Datto SIRIS for high-performance business continuity, they offer Datto ALTO, which is specifically tailored for business continuity needs of small businesses. This allows MSPs to serve clients of different sizes with appropriate solutions. Datto also offers SaaS Protection+, designed to secure, protect, and restore SaaS applications, acknowledging the growing reliance on cloud-based services. Endpoint Backup provides backup, restore, and protection for endpoint data, and there's a specific version for Endpoint Backup with Disaster Recovery to protect endpoint server data. Additionally, Datto provides Backup for Microsoft Azure and Backup for Microsoft Entra ID, addressing data protection needs for specific Microsoft cloud environments. Datto's MSP Solutions page outlines these diverse backup and protection tools.

Beyond backup and recovery, Datto also provides solutions aimed at simplifying MSP operations and powering the business of IT. Their Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) tool allows MSPs to manage, monitor, and support client systems remotely, improving efficiency and responsiveness. Autotask Professional Services Automation (PSA) helps MSPs manage their IT business operations, covering aspects like ticketing, project management, and billing. For sales and quoting, Datto offers Quote Manager, which simplifies quoting processes and helps drive revenue growth. These tools are designed to streamline the day-to-day management of an MSP business, allowing them to operate more efficiently and profitably.

Datto also ventures into security services, recognizing the increasing threat landscape. They offer Managed SOC (Security Operations Center) to detect and respond to threats, providing a higher level of cybersecurity monitoring. Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) software is available for easy endpoint security, and their next-generation antivirus protection helps defend against malware and other malicious software. These security offerings allow MSPs to provide a more holistic security posture for their clients, integrating protection directly with their managed services.

Furthermore, Datto provides solutions for file management and collaboration. File Protection is available for backing up and restoring specific files and folders. Datto Workplace offers sync and share capabilities for files securely, facilitating collaboration while maintaining data control. These additional tools demonstrate Datto's commitment to providing a comprehensive ecosystem of solutions that address various IT needs for MSPs and their clients, from core data protection to operational management and advanced security. The goal is to offer a unified portfolio that helps MSPs become a single source for their clients' IT requirements, simplifying their own operations and enhancing their service offerings.

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) Portfolio

Datto's BCDR portfolio is extensive. Beyond SIRIS, they offer ALTO, specifically for small businesses, providing essential continuity without the full scale of SIRIS. SaaS Protection+ safeguards critical data in cloud applications like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, allowing MSPs to secure and restore SaaS application data. Endpoint Backup and Endpoint Backup with Disaster Recovery protect individual workstations and servers, ensuring that all client data, regardless of location, is covered. These solutions provide a comprehensive defense against downtime and data loss across various environments.

Operational Management Tools

Datto also provides tools to simplify the operational aspects of running an MSP business. Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) software enables MSPs to proactively monitor client networks, deploy updates, and resolve issues remotely, increasing efficiency and client satisfaction. Autotask Professional Services Automation (PSA) helps manage the entire service delivery lifecycle, from ticketing and project management to billing and reporting. Quote Manager simplifies the sales process, allowing MSPs to quickly generate accurate quotes and proposals, which helps drive revenue and streamline client acquisition.

Cybersecurity Solutions

Recognizing the escalating cyber threat landscape, Datto offers several cybersecurity solutions. Their Managed SOC (Security Operations Center) provides 24/7 threat detection and response, offering a higher level of security for clients who need it. Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) software gives MSPs advanced tools to protect endpoints from sophisticated attacks, while their next-generation antivirus provides foundational protection against malware. These security offerings allow MSPs to integrate robust cybersecurity services into their managed offerings, helping clients stay protected against evolving threats.

File Sync and Share

For secure file management and collaboration, Datto offers File Protection and Workplace. File Protection is designed for backing up and restoring specific files and folders, providing granular control over data recovery. Datto Workplace allows users to securely sync and share files, facilitating team collaboration while ensuring data security and compliance. These tools help MSPs address client needs for secure file access, sharing, and version control, integrating seamlessly with their broader data protection strategy.

Cloud-Specific Backup Solutions

Datto provides specialized backup solutions for major cloud platforms. Backup for Microsoft Azure offers data protection for environments running on Microsoft Azure. Similarly, Backup for Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) ensures the protection of critical identity and access management data. These targeted solutions address the unique challenges of protecting data within specific cloud ecosystems, allowing MSPs to offer comprehensive data protection regardless of where their clients' data resides.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is AI-powered screenshot verification?

AI-powered screenshot verification is a feature in Datto SIRIS that automatically checks the recoverability of backups. It does this by intelligently analyzing boot states and UI screens after a simulated boot of the backup image. This process confirms that a system is not only bootable but also fully functional, achieving more than 99% verification accuracy. It reduces false positives and saves technician time by automating a crucial validation step for backups.

How does Datto SIRIS help with ransomware protection?

Datto SIRIS helps with ransomware protection through multiple layers of security. It includes immutable backups, meaning once data is backed up, it cannot be altered or deleted by ransomware. The system also features built-in ransomware detection that monitors for suspicious activity. Additionally, patented Cloud Deletion Defense™ prevents malicious deletion of backups from the cloud, and end-to-end encryption secures data. These features ensure that clean, recoverable backups are available even after an attack.

Is Datto SIRIS suitable for small businesses?

While Datto SIRIS is a comprehensive solution, Datto also offers Datto ALTO, which is specifically designed for business continuity for small businesses. SIRIS itself is scalable and can serve small shops up to large IT infrastructures, but ALTO provides a more tailored, perhaps simpler, option for smaller organizations. Both aim to protect critical data and minimize downtime, but ALTO might be a better fit depending on the specific needs and budget of a small business.

What is included in Datto's flat-fee pricing?

Datto's flat-fee pricing for SIRIS is an all-inclusive model. It combines the cost of backup, disaster recovery, and cloud storage into one predictable fee. This means there are no additional charges for cloud administration, data ingress (uploading), data egress (downloading), disaster recovery testing, or the actual disaster recovery process. This transparent model eliminates hidden costs and simplifies budgeting for MSPs.

Can Datto SIRIS recover data from virtual environments?

Yes, Datto SIRIS can rapidly recover data from virtual environments. It delivers data resilience across physical, virtual, and cloud environments. In a downtime scenario, it can instantly virtualize critical systems either locally on the SIRIS appliance or in the secure Datto Cloud. This capability allows for quick restoration of virtual machines and ensures business continuity with minimal interruption.