Reunion

IASO Backup Technology marks the reunion of two ICT veterans, Rob Verbeek and Johan Jongsma. Already in 1986 Rob and Johan, then two undergraduate students in Business Informatics, started up their first company, Tight Fit Software. After graduation in 1988 they decided to pursue their individual careers, in Sales & Marketing and Software Development respectively. In 2004 the both rejoined and formed IASO Backup Technology, together with two 'angry young men', Jan Gerzinus (JG) Jongsma and Rene van Steenbergen, both also quite experienced entrepreneurs.

Start-up

It all started as an occasional social call: Rob had taken some time of after the summer of 2003, to take a break from 17 years of intense career making, and was taking a full time MBA. In between classes he paid a visit to his old pall Johan, who was working as an independent software consultant. Rene and JG joined the conversation and soon the subject turned to business opportunities. Putting their respective experience and prejudices on the table, a general business concept was conceived for a new breed of ICT services: online backup services. Although the concept was not entirely new and original it was the common conviction of all 4 participants that the time was ripe to start-up a company entirely focussed on this type of service for the SMB-tier of the market.

Obstacle or opportunity

After an initially successful start, the company ran into a severe obstacle: the limitations of its software. The of-the-shelf package they had acquired, simply couldn't cope with customer demand. An extensive market survey followed, in which was uncovered that the market alternatives for online backup software were actually quite limited. Although a threat to the business at short term, the partners immediately recognised the opportunity this presented and it was decided that the company would develop a new service platform for online backup services. The first version of the IASO Backup software was released in October, 2004.

Pushing the limits

A lot has happened since then. As the new software had ample capabilities to address the needs of the SMB market, new customers were coming in quickly and the company gained a significant position in the reseller market as well. The release of IASO Backup 2.0 in March 2005 brought online backup to equal levels with tape and Version 3, introduced in October, 2005, added features that fully leverage the advantages of disk as a backup medium and the omnipresent Internet as a means of transport. IASO has made online backup a mature - safe, reliable, easy to use - and cost effective alternative to the 'good old' tape backup.