Two Microsoft veterans have teamed to form a startup called Newline Software that will store people's photos and documents in the cloud.

Kory Gill and Marius Nita launched the company in June 2008 and plan to release a test version of their product in two months. They’re targeting consumers and small businesses, and want to give them a way to protect their critical files by creating backup versions in remote data centers.

“It will take the files on your home or work computer and back them up over the internet to our data center,” Gill said. Otherwise, he said, “If your house burns down for some reason, what happens?”

Newline Software is not alone in pursuing this business model. Seattle-based Decho, a unit of Hopkinton, Mass.-based EMC Corp.; Carbonite Inc., of Boston; and Microsoft, through its Skydrive product, offer similar services.

Gill said Newline’s product will offer some different features and pricing from the existing services, but said he’s not ready to reveal those yet. Gill is an 18-year veteran of Microsoft, and Nita was at the software giant for six years. They both worked in the Windows Logo Program, certifying devices for use with Windows.

For now, Gill and Nita are the sole employees of Newline Software. The startup, which occupies an office in Redmond, is aiming to close a funding round of between $250,000 and $1 million, Gill said. He declined to disclose the investors.

Newline Software’s trademark is 0xDA, which is computer code for “new line,” a reference to the company’s name, Gill said.