McAfee to launch online backup service

McAfee is set to launch a secure online back-up service in Australia in the fourth quarter backed by the EMC-owned Mozy service.

The security giant launched the online backup service to US customers for US$59.99 per year ($68.99) today.

There was no limit on the amount of storage consumers could take up as part of the offering.

But as it was a hosted offering, users would be subject to the upload and download limits - and performance - of their internet service provider.

Australian users will be initially offered access to the US-hosted service, but a representative for the security vendor said this would not rule out the potential for a locally-hosted solution in the future.

Files were "safely encrypted and stored on a secure remote server online by the world's largest dedicated security company [and were] easily retrievable with just a few clicks", McAfee said.

"The McAfee Online Backup service addresses many of consumers' concerns about safely and easily storing their important files with unlimited storage capacity," said Brent Remai, vice president of consumer marketing at McAfee.

"[Consumers] no longer need to worry about disk failure, file corruption or other disasters such as home theft or fires."

Mozy, which is owned by EMC company Decho, also operated a business-oriented back-up service called MozyPro.

It charged US$3.95 plus 50 cents per GB per month for desktop licenses and US$6.95 plus 50 cents per GB per month for servers.