EMC today acquired online backup provider Mozy to bolster its data protection offerings, according to sources.

According to a post on TechCrunch, EMC picked up Mozy for $76 million.

Mozy provides two software services, Mozy and Mozy Pro, which let users back up their Windows of Macintosh PCs for a flat fee of $4.95 per month; Mozy Pro is software for enterprise users that starts at $.50 per GB and a flat fee of $395 per month.

Mozy and Mozy Pro provides near continuous data backup of user’s files every two hours. If users lose data, they can recover it over Mozy servers, based in Utah.

Online backup services fit well into EMC’s data protection strategy. CEO Joe Tucci hinted at EMC’s intent to offer online backup services earlier this year in a quarterly earnings call. "In software-as-a-service, we have nothing yet, but stay tuned -- we will launch an offering here soon,” Tucci said. “When you think of the backup and recovery space, we'll have an alternative for customers. Rather than saying here's your hardware, software, and services, [we can say] we'll charge by the drip, and host all of that for you."

Berkeley Data Systems, the owner of Mozy, was founded in 2005 and is funded for $1.9 million by Wasatch Partners, Tim Draper and Novell co-founder Drew Major.

EMC declined to comment.