GigaOm, VentureBeat, and TechCrunch have gotten together again to put on the Academy Awards of the tech industry - the Crunchies. Backblaze is honored to have been named a finalist in the category: Best Technology Achievement of 2009.

Not sure if you have heard of the other finalists…one is a little startup called Google and the other some company named Microsoft.

Voting for the Crunchies ends this Wednesday Jan 6, 2010 at midnight and we would love to have your vote. (It takes just a click to vote - no personal info or sign-ups.)

How did we get selected to be a finalist?
Nominations from you and selection by the Crunchies Committee.

What is the technology achievement?
A combination of the unlimited, unthrottled, backup-all-data online backup service itself and the uber-inexpensive cloud storage hardware design we gave away.

So, what now?
Vote for us! We promise to still be your friend after we’re famous.

After being selected as one of the AlwaysOn Global Top 250 Private Companies in July, Backblaze was selected as one of the 14 “Best of the Best” and asked to present at the AlwaysOn Venture Summit West.

Backblaze was initially selected based on “innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value, and media buzz.”

Held at the Ritz Carlton in lovely Half Moon Bay and packed with investors, analysts, media, and startup CEOs, there was significant discussion about the economic uncertainty and how current companies can thrive in it. We appreciate having been selected as one of the best global private companies and intend to continue our mission to ensure no user ever loses data again.