Backup Exec System Recovery is relatively straightforward to install and manage, and Symantec does a decent job of keeping the product easy to understand. However, things can get complicated rather quickly during the installation and initial operations.

The menus and included wizards do a decent job of covering the basics, but most users will want to leverage the “power” features of the product to realize the most value and can become quickly lost in the various option menus and settings choices. While that may be a bad thing for the neophyte backup operator, the simple truth here is that the layers of complexity fit well into the skill set of a solution provider servicing the disaster recovery market.

With complexity comes flexibility, which allows a solution provider to bend Backup Exec to fit even the most arcane of environments–an important consideration for a solution provider that has had to say “the product won’t do that” one too many times to prospective customers.

Priced at around $1,300 (1 SBS Server, 5 Client PCs and 1 Year Maintenance), Backup Exec System Recovery for Small Business Server may not be the cheapest backup solution on the market, but it is surely the most complete. A wide range of capabilities are bundled into the product that both serve the end user and the solution providers who resell the product, which will help to highlight the overall value of the product.

Perhaps the only worry with the product for solution providers may be Symantec’s channel commitment–after all, the company does sell BESR and several other products direct, through retail and through mail order outlets. Another channel element solution providers may want to keep an eye on is the renewal process, because very little is stopping Symantec from taking that business direct to the end customer.

Even so, Backup Exec System Recovery 8.5 does offer enough service enablement opportunities that a savvy solution provider could leverage to use the product to build a service-orientated disaster recovery solution, that in turn can offer excellent protection and ongoing revenue opportunities. It all comes down to how a solution provider will market, sell and support the product.