Backup specialist PHD Virtual is building on its enterprise backup operation with the acquisition of VirtualSharp.

The company said that the acquisition would bolster its disaster recovery options by offering users better choice in scheduling and managing backups.

Founded in 2005, PHD Virtual specialises in backup services for virtualisation and cloud computing services. The company has expanded its services in recent months to cover VMware, Citrix and OpenStack cloud deployments.

Joe Noonan, senior product manager for PHD Virtual, told V3 that the acquisition of VirtualSharp would bolster the company’s own disaster recovery holdings.

“Those were some areas where our products and other products fall short,” Noonan explained.

“What VirtualSharp is offering is disaster recovery assurance.”

The company said that it will integrate VirtualSharp’s products and staff into its own operations, but the brand and services will continue to be offered.

By integrating the VirtualSharp disaster recovery brand into its backup line, PHD believes that it can offer its large enterprise and service provider partners with disaster recovery services which can be tested multiple times to provide customers with more assurance that their backup instances will be available and compatible in the event of a disaster.

“A product like this allows you to test much more frequently,” Noonan explained.

“They can prove to you that not only is your disaster recovery plan working, but the objectives you set with them can be met.”