Cohesity, a recognized provider of AI-powered data security solutions, recently announced the completion of its strategic combination with Veritas’ enterprise data protection business. This merger positions Cohesity as the world’s largest data protection software provider by market share, enabling it to serve over 12,000 global customers. Included in this customer base are more than 85 of the Fortune 100 companies and nearly 70% of the Global 500 companies. With the addition of Veritas’ capabilities, Cohesity aims to protect several hundred exabytes of the world’s data. The enhanced capabilities brought by this merger enable Cohesity to offer extensive workload support alongside one of the largest partner ecosystems within the data protection industry. This combination not only elevates their technological capabilities but also widens their horizons in ways previously unimaginable.
A Pivotal Event in Cohesity’s Timeline
Sanjay Poonen, the President and CEO of Cohesity, underscores this merger as a pivotal event in Cohesity’s 11-year timeline. A central focus for Cohesity is their mission to protect, secure, and provide valuable insights into the world’s data. This combination integrates Cohesity’s scalable architecture and advanced generative AI capabilities with Veritas’ broad workload support and expansive global presence. The result is expected to provide significant value to customers and partners, enhancing their ability to leverage data effectively. Cohesity emphasizes a “no customer left behind” policy, committing to supporting existing products from both Cohesity and Veritas for many years to come. The company aims to spearhead innovations in cyber resilience to solidify its position as the leading choice for data security with advanced AI capabilities.
The driving force behind this merger, according to Poonen, is the mutual desire to push the envelope on what constitutes effective data protection. As the digital landscape evolves, so too must the solutions designed to navigate it. The integration of Veritas’ broad workload support means that Cohesity can now handle more diverse and numerous data sets than ever before, offering a sort of ‘one-stop-shop’ for all data security needs. Poonen strongly believes that the collaborative strengths of Cohesity and Veritas will drive notable innovations in cyber resilience, further advancing their shared mission of delivering top-tier data protection. The promising future they envision is built on a foundation of robust technology and trusted partnerships.
Industry Reactions and Expert Opinions
Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, congratulated Cohesity on the completion of their acquisition of Veritas. Huang expressed excitement about partnering with Cohesity as they develop their GenAI products, leveraging NVIDIA AI Enterprise. He emphasized that Cohesity’s efforts to back up and protect data hold the potential to unlock significant business value for customers through GenAI.
The expert opinions extend beyond just top executives in the tech world. Daniel Newman, CEO of The Futurum Group, highlighted the significance of this merger in the data protection industry. Newman noted that the resulting combination addresses a market need for solutions that extend beyond data backup and recovery, focusing on data security and insights for robust cyber resilience. With extensive workload support, world-class security and insight capabilities, a broad presence, and a vast partner ecosystem, Cohesity has positioned itself uniquely at the intersection of multi-cloud environments, security, and AI. Newman expressed confidence in Cohesity’s growth trajectory under the leadership of Sanjay Poonen, predicting the company’s expansion beyond data protection into helping global CIOs realize the potential for AI to turn organizational data into a competitive advantage.
These endorsements from industry leaders paint a comprehensive picture of Cohesity’s future. The merging of AI with traditional data protection techniques is seen as a game-changer, providing insights that were once difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. Entities investing heavily in AI often emerge as market leaders due to their ability to gain a competitive edge through superior data leverage. Therefore, the merger doesn’t just imply a fusion of two technological giants; it heralds the inception of a new era in data security, one where AI plays a crucial role in protecting and deriving value from data.
Advancements Brought by the Merger
The combination of Cohesity with Veritas’ data protection business brings several notable advancements. The merged entity will deliver cloud-scale, AI-powered data security and management. This includes generative AI-driven insights, a user-friendly management interface, and a comprehensive portfolio for multicloud data protection. The architecture is highly scalable, supporting a wide array of workloads. This breadth of capabilities offers a more holistic approach to data management. The advancements in their combined technologies will set new standards, pushing competitors to rethink their strategies.
Cohesity commits to a long-term investment in the products and services from both companies. This includes continuing to support and enhance existing Cohesity software and Veritas solutions such as Veritas NetBackup, NetBackup appliances, and Alta data protection offerings. The expanded company will leverage an extensive Net Promoter Score and global presence to support a unified, around-the-clock customer success organization. Cohesity remains dedicated to delivering positive support experiences and satisfactory outcomes for customer needs. By absorbing Veritas’s established capabilities, Cohesity is positioned to offer a more robust and versatile data protection solution to its wide array of clients.
Enhanced AI Capabilities and Partner Ecosystem
Enhanced AI features, including patent-pending innovations, will offer significant benefits in data management, protection, and resiliency. This will enable customers to gain deeper insights and create more value from their data. The combined company will boast one of the largest partner ecosystems in the industry. This includes partnerships with cloud service providers, security providers, VARs, system integrators, MSPs, technology partners, distribution partners, and hardware OEMs. The all-encompassing nature of these partnerships creates a dynamic and flexible support system, which will be crucial as data environments become more complex.
Cohesity’s target market is estimated to be worth over $40 billion, incorporating IDC’s data replication and protection software market, projected to reach vendor sales of $12.3 billion by 2024. The combination expands Cohesity’s market reach, geographic presence, and R&D resources, which is anticipated to drive new customer adoption and innovation in the data security and management sector. The transaction places the combined company’s valuation at over $7 billion. The immense financial resources made available through this merger will be pivotal in supporting Cohesity’s ambitious growth and innovation plans.
Financial Backing and Leadership
Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, praised Cohesity for completing their acquisition of Veritas. Huang is eager to work alongside Cohesity to develop their GenAI products, utilizing NVIDIA AI Enterprise. He highlighted that Cohesity’s data protection efforts could unlock significant business value through GenAI.
Industry experts also share positive views. Daniel Newman, CEO of The Futurum Group, emphasized the merger’s importance in the data protection field. Newman stated that this combination meets a market need for solutions beyond traditional data backup and recovery, emphasizing data security and insights for enhanced cyber resilience. With broad workload support, top-tier security and insight capabilities, extensive presence, and a vast partner network, Cohesity stands out at the intersection of multi-cloud environments, security, and AI. Newman is confident in Cohesity’s growth under Sanjay Poonen’s leadership, predicting its expansion beyond data protection to help global CIOs leverage AI for competitive advantage.
These endorsements forecast a bright future for Cohesity. Combining AI with traditional data protection is revolutionary, offering insights that were previously difficult to obtain. Heavy investment in AI often propels companies to market leadership by enabling superior data leverage. This merger is not just a union of two tech giants but marks a new era in data security, where AI plays a pivotal role in protecting and extracting value from data.
