Virtual environments have been central to IT infrastructure for the majority of businesses for awhile now. Even when the company utilizes a physical server onsite, it is typically set up to host a virtual environment. Barring hardware failure, virtual environments are much easier for offsite IT personnel to manage. If a hard reboot is necessary, logging into a virtual platform makes it quick and easy to perform, without costly trips out to the location.
This transformation towards virtual environments, hybrid IT infrastructure, and cloud-based solutions have presented quite a problem for backup solutions. The big challenge: How do you manage and protect data across all those different systems.
Veeam Software claims to have the answer with its new Veeam Availability Suite 9.5 Release 3. The company claims that this update will provide comprehensive data management and ensure Availability for all workloads—virtual, physical, and cloud—centrally managed via a single Veeam “pane of glass.”
Veeam Partner Program Push
The launch comes as Veeam Channel Chief Kevin Rooney says the data protection company’s enterprise momentum is set to kick into high gear in 2018.
Why’s that? Growing relationships with Cisco Systems and HP Enterprise (among others). Also, the company has made a key hire -- VP Dangvy Keller -- to handle distribution relationships. And an ongoing CSP partner push continues to accelerate, VP Paul Mattes told us during Amazon AWS re:Invent 2017 in late November. Longer term, watch for potential engagements with global systems integrators, Rooney hinted to ChannelE2E during the Ingram Micro ONE 2017 conference in November.
Of course, the partner program can't accelerate without timely software innovation. That's why VAS 9.5 Update 3 is so darn important. It features a Universal Storage API -- a new storage interface that should allow Veeam to more rapidly support new storage integrations going forward, which could lead to superior backup performance, lower risk of data loss, and more rapid recovery.
New capabilities in VAS 9.5 Update 3 also include:
Veeam Grows -- But So Does Competition
Veeam is privately held, so the company doesn't share exact quarterly revenue or profit figure. But multiple metrics suggest the company remains in rapid growth mode. One prime example: The company expects to reach $1.5 billion in bookings revenue by 2020, Co-CEO and President Peter McKay said in November 2017. That's impressive, considering Veeam in May 2017 suggested the company wants to grow from $800 million now to $1 billion in 2018 to that $1.5 billion in 2020.
Still, Veeam faces a range of rivals -- from entrenched companies like Veritas to cloud-driven upstarts like Druva and MSP-focused SMB players like Datto. Veeam must also carefully manage those new enterprise relationships with Cisco and HPE -- ensuring that those strategic alliances don't compete with traditional Veeam resellers, integrators and CSPs.
And most of all, the company must make sure the VAS 9.5 Update 3 rollout goes smoothly, especially to CSPs that built their business continuity strategies atop earlier versions of the software.
Additional reporting and insights from Joe Panettieri.
