Late in the week, with little fanfare, high speed internet provider Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) announced their online backup solution that they are making available for their internet customers. Known as Secure Backup And Share, the new service will allow Comcast customers to backup their personal data into the cloud. The service is powered by Mozy, a very well rated backup provider owned by the EMC corporation (NYSE:EMC).

There will be three service levels offered. All Comcast internet users will be given a standard 2GB of online storage space for free. Power users that require more backup space can choose to buy the preferred 50GB for $4.99 monthly ($49.99 annually) or the preferred 200GB for $9.99 monthly ($99.99 annually).

Comcast will join a number of providers that offer online backup storage including Memeo and McAfee Online Backup. According to statistics that Mozy keeps, some 140,000 hard drives failures are seen in the US alone and that doesn’t even account for data loss that is the result of human error, stolen computers or can be attributed to malware such as viruses and trojans.

The Comcast offer simply provides another alternative for data backups and being an online service, data can be accessed anywhere using your favorite web browser, even on a web enabled mobile phone. You will also be able to share personal files and pictures with your friends and family. Currently, the service is available for PC users only, but Comcast does anticipate expanding service to include Apple Mac users shortly.

Via: CNET