Carbonite CEO David Friend Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year(R) 2010 Award Finalist in New England

BOSTON, May 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Carbonite®, a leading provider of online backup, announced David Friend, CEO and Co-Founder is a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2010 Award in the New England. Award winners will be announced at a special gala event on June 24, 2010 at the Boston Renaissance Waterfront Hotel.  

According to Ernst & Young LLP, the awards program recognizes entrepreneurs who demonstrate extraordinary success in the areas of innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Friend was selected as a finalist from nearly 80 nominations by a panel of independent judges.  

Friend has been a successful technology entrepreneur for more than 25 years. He previously co-founded five companies: Sonexis, FaxNet, Pilot Software, Computer Pictures Corporation and ARP Instruments. At Carbonite, Friend has driven product innovation and sustained the company's success by raising more than $67 million in capital. Since 2006, Carbonite has backed up more than 39 billion files, restored more than 3.2 billion lost files for its customers, and backs up more than 100 million files every day.

"I'm humbled to be honored by such a prestigious organization as Ernst & Young," said Friend. "At every company I've ever started, I've had a great team to support me. I'm very proud of this honor and share it with the entire Carbonite team."

The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year awards program celebrates its 24th anniversary this year. The program has expanded to recognize business leaders in over 135 cities in 50 countries throughout the world.  

Regional award winners are eligible for consideration for the Ernst & Young LLP Entrepreneur Of The Year national program. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the overall national Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award winner, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs, California on November 13, 2010. The awards are the culminating event of the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum, the nation's most prestigious gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies.

Carbonite launched its online backup service for PC owners in 2006. In the last year, Carbonite enhanced its Remote File Access features beyond Web browsers to mobile accessibility through iPhone®, iPod Touch® and BlackBerry® smartphone devices. Additionally, the company raised approximately $20 million in a mezzanine financing round and received accolades in 2009 as a WebWare 100 winner and recipient of the Mass Technology Leadership Council Award.

Sponsors

Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year awards are pleased to have the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and SAP America as national sponsors.

In New England sponsors include Boston Magazine, J. Robert Scott, Marsh, Nixon Peabody LLP, Accounting Management Solutions, Bowne and Regan Communications Group.

About Carbonite

The Carbonite industry-first offer of unlimited online backup service for a flat, low price revolutionized the market for consumer and small business backup services. Since 2006, the company has backed up more than 39 billion files and has restored more than 3.2 billion lost files for its customers. Carbonite backs up more than 100 million files every day to high-redundancy storage servers in its Boston and Somerville, Mass. data centers.

The Carbonite mission is to provide a simple, affordable, and secure backup solution for the mainstream computer user. Carbonite supports both the Windows and Mac platforms.  Carbonite is available directly at www.carbonite.com, and through international distributors. For more information, please visit www.carbonite.com.

About Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur Of The Year® Awards Program

Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur Of The Year® is the world's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The award makes a difference through the unique way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 135 cities in 50 countries.

Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young LLP is a client-serving member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited located in the U.S.

SOURCE Carbonite