Patent ID: 7328366

Claim:
A peer-to-peer reciprocal backup system in a network of computer systems, comprising: an originating computer system that is structured to: establish a reciprocal backup relationship with one of the computer systems, the relationship specifying an amount of backup storage for backups of data from the originating computer system on the one of the computer systems and an amount of reciprocal backup storage available on the originating computer system for storing backups of data from the one of the computer systems; transmit data to the one of the computer systems to be backed up according to the established reciprocal backup relationship; and receive data from the one of the computer systems to be backed up according to the established reciprocal backup relationship; a depository computer system that is structured to: participate as the one of the computer systems in establishing the reciprocal backup relationship with the originating computer system; receive data from the originating computer system to be backed up according to the established reciprocal backup relationship; and transmit data to the originating computer system to be backed up according to the established reciprocal backup relationship.