Online backup provider Backblaze is now offering Backblaze for Business, which lets business users back up an unlimited amount of data for an annual fee of $50 per computer. That is to say, the company is now providing their services to businesses at the same price they already offered to individuals. Although that may sound unremarkable at first blush, competitors - notably Mozy's MozyPro service - charge a flat rate for individuals but a per-gigabyte fee for businesses, potentially increasing their customers' costs dramatically (and unpredictably).

The Backblaze software, which runs on Mac OS X and Windows, automatically and continuously backs up all data files (but can be configured to exclude particular files or file types). Backblaze for Business customers can also deploy and manage the software for an entire company from a central location.

I applaud this move in that it will be a big help for small businesses on a budget, but I'd also like to see Backblaze offer something along the lines of CrashPlan's Family Unlimited Plan, which applies flat-rate pricing to any number of computers in a single household. (As someone with, at the moment, five Macs within arm's reach, I find per-computer backup subscriptions to be unreasonably pricey.)