HOLLYWOOD, FL – Product updates launched by Veeam and previewed this week at its annual user conference reflect the trend of backup and security convergence in the data protection market.
The company introduced Veeam Data Cloud Vault, an immutable, encrypted cloud backup storage service. Veeam also previewed its Copilot service in partnership with Microsoft.
Veeam's components come together to create a comprehensive ransomware prevention and recovery platform, said Anand Iswaran, CEO of Veeam.
“We are a data resiliency company, and backup is a component of what we do,” Iswaran said at Veeam’s annual user conference.
This “age of cyber resilience” is characterized by a combination of cybersecurity, traditional backup and recovery, and data management, said Christophe Bertrand, an analyst at TheCube Research.
“This is driven by ransomware,” Bertrand said.
The convergence of backup and security creates both benefits and challenges
Veeam has made several recent security moves. In March, Veeam acquired incident response company Coveware. Earlier this year, the company released Cyber Secure, a managed incident recovery service powered by Veeam. Late last year, Veeam Data launched an integration with Sophos Managed Detection and Response.
Veeam's backup services have expanded from their virtual focus when the company was founded to include cloud-based, containerized, SaaS, and physical workloads. In the few months leading up to VeeamON, the vendor added support for the Proxmox and Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager virtualization platforms.
We're a data resiliency company, and backup is a component of what we do.
Anand Iswaran, CEO, Veeam
“On the one hand, they continue to ensure they can support the variety of workloads that companies use,” said Christa Macomber, an analyst at The Futurum Group. “But they're also taking some steps to expand a little bit beyond that specific range that still falls within flexibility.”
The convergence of data protection and security can be a challenge for companies, said Johnny Yu, research director at IDC. Companies often have separate teams that do not communicate with each other adequately.
“We identified it as a common problem,” Yu said. “Veeam has identified it as a common problem.”
The industry needs to collaborate and work on best practices for enterprises to better implement this convergence, Yu said.
Veeam competes in this space with other data protection companies that have taken similar security steps, such as Rubrik and Commvault, according to Yu.
Data Cloud Vault aims to provide secure backups
Veeam Data Cloud Vault combines backup and security in a storage-as-a-service offering. Vault provides a pre-configured and fully managed cloud storage resource on Microsoft Azure. Customers can store, manage and access their data through subscription pricing.
An organization that isn't ready to fully embrace the public cloud is a target customer for the service, said Rick Vanover, vice president of product strategy at Veeam.
“It solves the predictability pricing challenge, and it solves the off-site backup challenge right away,” Vanover said.
Veeam Data Cloud Vault is now available through the Azure Marketplace for a separate fee that includes storage, write, read, and checkout APIs. In the US, the cost is $60 per TB per month. Veeam's plan is to integrate it further with Veeam's data platform.
Other vendors, including Cohesity, Dell and Zerto, have offered safes.
“In that sense, it makes sense for Veeam to try to provide a personalized offering,” Macomber said. “The appeal will be to customers who don't want to worry about configuring it themselves.”
Veeam CEO Anand Iswaran speaks at the VeeamON 2024 User Conference.
Veeam Copilot is ready to launch
Veeam Copilot, scheduled for release later this year, uses generative AI to answer user questions in Veeam's Backup for Microsoft 365. In a demo during a VeeamON keynote session on Tuesday, the technology generated a recovery link at the end of a conversation about user behavior and potential suspicious activity .
Veeam has built custom code elements into its offerings based on Microsoft Copilot and a partnership announced in March.
“It provides additional AI-powered insights into Veeam-managed data, makes recommendations, which is good, but then you move on to the next step in creating a course of action,” Vanover said.
Veeam did not specify whether the service will have an additional cost.
Vanover acknowledged that AI runs the risk of being “overly distorted,” but said Veeam is trying to provide practical uses for the technology. Veeam has previously integrated AI into its products through services such as intelligent diagnostics and embedded malware detection.
Other data protection vendors that have recently released AI tools include Cohesity, Commvault, Druva, and Rubrik.
“When it comes to adopting some of these AI capabilities, it's important to make sure the customer has a clear vision of how it will work, how it will be integrated into their workflow, and why they can trust it,” Macomber said.
Veeam adds Lenovo and Linux support
Veeam has also expanded its partnership with Lenovo with a new backup-as-a-service offering.
Lenovo TruScale Backup with Veeam combines Lenovo ThinkSystem servers and storage, Veeam Backup & Replication, Veeam One, and Lenovo TruScale services. Ransomware recovery is one of the product's top focuses, and it's available now, according to Veeam.
Additionally, Veeam said its backup and replication software will be available on Linux. This capability is likely to be launched in the first half of 2025, Vanover said.
Paul Crosetti is executive editor at TechTarget Editorial. Since 2015, he has worked in storage, data backup and disaster recovery positions at TechTarget.
