Crayon and NovaStor are working together

Novastor, a German-based software provider specialising in backup solutions, has announced a partnership with Norwegian IT service provider Crayon. This collaboration aims to make Novastor's products more popular in the channel, potentially allowing Novastor to expand beyond Germany due to Crayon's acquisition by global software licensing specialist SoftwareOne.

The partnership was agreed upon in mid-2025, and a channel webinar scheduled for September 24, 2025, will explain how customers can obtain digitally sovereign managed backup services using Novastor's "DataCenter 10" solution.

Both Novastor and Crayon believe there is a demand for managed solutions that ensure security, digital sovereignty, and compliance in data backup. "Made in Germany" software offers advantages in this regard: legal security, confidential handling of sensitive data, and direct support through local contacts.

Stefan Utzinger, CEO of Novastor, views this partnership as an important step in enabling the channel to build digitally sovereign managed backup services using Novastor's German-developed software. He believes this will provide customers with security, compliance, and direct proximity to the manufacturer.

Under the terms of the agreement, Novastor's backup software will be made available to IT service providers for offering managed backup services to their customers. The data of these customers will be stored exclusively in German data centers, without the involvement of US hyperscalers.

This partnership follows previous events related to this topic, including the Kiwiko Partner Conference (May 2025), SoftwareOne's takeover offer for Crayon shares (March 2025), and the introduction of Novastor's "Novastor DataCenter" for data backup (February 2021).

Axel Gillert, Director Channel Sales at Crayon, expresses confidence in the development of new services by system houses and MSPs to strengthen digital sovereignty in IT infrastructures of companies. This partnership is expected to contribute significantly to this goal.

Novastor GmbH, founded in the USA in 1987 and sold to an investor group in 2009, has been under the leadership of Stefan Utzinger since 2004. The company's headquarters are located in Hamburg, Germany, where all new product development takes place.

In 2025, SoftwareOne acquired Crayon by purchasing its shares. It is not mentioned in the current paragraph about any declining revenues of SoftwareOne in the first quarter of 2025.

Discussions about lawful data backup using Novastor's managed backup services have been ongoing since July 2018. This partnership is a significant step towards making Novastor's secure and compliant backup solutions more accessible to a wider audience.