According to Greg Schulz, author of the book "Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Network," data backup is far from a dead technology. Instead, he writes on Sys-Con.com, the technology is evolving to protect data instead of just back it up.

Many technologies associated with backup have been declared dead, Shultz writes, along with backup software tools, but he said the reality is that time to modernize how data backup is protected. He said backup is on the zombie list and will live on, as data will be replaced with a "modern resilient and flexible protected data infrastructure."

One technology that Schulz said is on the "zombie list" is tape backup. He said it has seen some resurgence, and it will remain "safe on the zombie list" for about another decade or so, but Schulz said it has been on the list for a long time. Backup on tape is thought to be less reliable than online backup and other options.

Zen Internet's website said online backup offers a more affordable, secure and highly scalable option when compared to tape backup. The website said tapes can be lost, stolen and damaged while two copies of data are stored in online backup options.