The new cloud service is built on Quantum's vmPRO virtual machine backup software and its new virtual deduplication appliance, the DXi V1000, which was also unveiled today.

The all-virtual platform serves as the foundation for .

"This is not your Amazon cloud where you put your credit card in and hope for the best," said Henrik Rosendahl, Quantum's vice president of Virtualization Solutions. "Xerox likes to brand themselves as a business-class cloud versus a consumer cloud service."

Quantum plans to begin offering its own backup service through other public and private cloud infrastructures later this year. In addition to using third-party services, Quantum expects to launch its own public cloud offering in the next three months.

Quantum's new service, Henrik said, bridges a gap between consumer cloud services such as Carbonite and Mozy and enterprise-class array-based data backup and replication. The latter can cost tens of thousands of dollars -- even millions of dollars -- to deploy.