Symantec has enhanced its Backup Exec 2010 software to provide small and mid-sized organisations with an option to deploy it as on-premise software, as a cloud service, or as an appliance.

“Customers want choice in how they manage their backup environment,” said Amit Walia, Vice President of Product Management, Symantec.

Expected to be available later this year, Symantec Backup Exec.cloud will be offered as an option for those that want to offload their IT infrastructure.

Data will be backed up over an SSL connection to Symantec’s off-site data centres. Backups can be triggered by file changes or run according to a set schedule, while modified files are protected continuously.

Should disaster strike, the service will allow for critical files to be restored to any service-enabled machine with just an internet connection. It will also offer individual file restore for every day file retrieval

Backup Exec 2010 now provides SSL support from the agent to the server, providing an extra layer of security for customers that transmit backup data across the WAN or to a private cloud. The added security features help ensure that backed up data sent over a public Internet connection is secure

Backup Exec 2010 Agent for Enterprise Vault now supports Enterprise Vault 10 beta backup, recovery and migration. Additionally, the Backup Exec Archive Option for Exchange now includes Virtual Vault, allowing users to access archived emails directly from within Outlook.

Symantec’s Backup Exec Management Plug-in for VMware is also now part of the standard agent for VMware providing Backup Exec management through vCentre