Veeam backup and security updates include cloud vault, copilot
Veeam products and services in the spotlight at the VeeamON 2024 user conference included secure backups in the cloud, a generative AI assistant and a new offering with Lenovo.
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- The product updates Veeam launched and previewed this week at its annual user conference reflect the backup and security convergence trend in the data protection market.
The company introduced Veeam Data Cloud Vault, an immutable and encrypted cloud-based backup storage service. Veeam also previewed a copilot service in partnership with Microsoft.
Veeam's components come together to create an end-to-end platform for ransomware prevention and recovery, said CEO Anand Eswaran.
"We're a data resilience company, and backup is one component of what we do," Eswaran said at Veeam's annual user conference.
This "era of cyber resilience" features the combination of cybersecurity, traditional backup and recovery, and data management, said Christophe Bertrand, an analyst at TheCube Research.
"That's being driven by ransomware," Bertrand said.
Backup and security convergence creates benefits, challenges
Veeam has made several recent security moves. In March, Veeam acquired incident response vendor Coveware. Earlier this year, the company released its Cyber Secure Program, a managed incident recovery service with Veeam support. Late last year, the Veeam Data Platform launched an integration with Sophos Managed Detection and Response.
Veeam's backup services have expanded from its virtual focus upon the company's inception to include cloud-based workloads, containers, SaaS and physical workloads. In the couple of months leading up to VeeamON, the vendor added support for virtual platforms Proxmox and Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager.
We're a data resilience company, and backup is one component of what we do.
Anand EswaranCEO, Veeam
"They're, on one hand, continuing to ensure that they can back up the variety of workloads that enterprises are using," said Krista Macomber, an analyst at The Futurum Group. "But then they're also taking some steps to expand a little bit beyond that specific scope that still falls under resiliency."
The convergence of data protection and security can be challenging for enterprises, said Johnny Yu, a research manager at IDC. Businesses often have separate teams that don't communicate with each other enough.
"We've identified it as a common problem," Yu said. "Veeam has identified it as a common problem."
The industry needs to come together and work out best practices for organizations to improve the implementation of this convergence, Yu said.
Veeam competes in this area with other data protection vendors that have made similar security moves, such as Rubrik and Commvault, according to Yu.
Data Cloud Vault aims for secure backups
The Veeam Data Cloud Vault combines backup and security in an air-gapped storage-as-a-service offering. The vault provides a preconfigured 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 this service, said Rick Vanover, vice president of product strategy at Veeam.
"It solves the predictable pricing challenge and it also solves the off-site backup challenge right away," Vanover said.
The Veeam Data Cloud Vault is available now through the Azure Marketplace for a separate fee that includes storage, write and read APIs, and egress. In the U.S., it costs $60 per terabyte, per month. Veeam's plan is to integrate it more with the Veeam Data Platform.
Other vendors including Cohesity, Dell and Zerto have introduced vaults.
"From that standpoint, it makes sense that Veeam is trying to package a dedicated offering," Macomber said. "The appeal is going to be for customers that don't want to worry about configuring it themselves."
Veeam CEO Anand Eswaran speaks at the VeeamON 2024 user conference.
Veeam Copilot set for launch
Veeam Copilot, due out later this year, uses generative AI to answer user questions in Veeam's Backup for Microsoft 365. In a demonstration during a VeeamON keynote session Tuesday, the technology generated a restore link at the end of a conversation about user behavior and potential suspicious activity.
Veeam built custom code elements into its offering based on Microsoft Copilot and a partnership announced in March.
"It's giving additional AI-powered insights for the data under management by Veeam, and it's making recommendations, which is good, but then going that next step in generating a course of action," Vanover said.
Veeam has not determined if the service will have an additional cost.
Vanover acknowledged that AI runs the risk of being "overly buzzwashed," but he said Veeam is trying to provide practical uses for the technology. Veeam has previously incorporated AI into its products through such services as its Intelligent Diagnostics and inline 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 works and how it's going to integrate into their workflow, and why they can trust it," Macomber said.
Lenovo TruScale Backup with Veeam combines Lenovo ThinkSystem servers and storage, Veeam Backup & Replication, Veeam One and Lenovo TruScale services. Ransomware recovery is a major focus of the product, which is available now, according to Veeam.
In addition, Veeam said its Backup & Replication will be available on Linux. The capability will likely be launched in the first half of 2025, Vanover said.
Paul Crocetti is an executive editor at TechTarget Editorial. Since 2015, he has worked on TechTarget's Storage, Data Backup and Disaster Recovery sites.
