Direct-to-Cloud: Changing the Economics of Backup

Veeam’s Backup & Replication v12, with its Direct-to-Object capability, is a game changer for anyone looking to change the economics of their data protection strategy by leveraging cloud storage. While hybrid architectures leveraging all-flash systems on-prem for the best possible RTO will continue to be the de facto standard for large enterprises, v12 creates the possibility for SMBs and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to dramatically reduce their data protection costs while increasing their resilience to malicious data loss.

The current approach to data protection is heavily dependent on the availability and durability of on-premises backup systems. That is why bad actors make these backup systems their first target when they succeed in breaching a corporate network and putting their nefarious plans into action. Once they have corrupted the backup files and exfiltrated any data they consider valuable, they have the upper hand in making demands for a ransom. In recent years this issue has been mitigated with the use of immutable copies using cloud object storage, but there are still some limitations to that solution in the form of excess API and egress fees.

Maximize the capacity of expensive on-premises storage

In many cases, especially for SMBs and SMEs, data protection budgets are based on storing enough copies of the most important data for a reasonable duration. With the onslaught of ransomware attacks in recent years, the number of copies and the period of retention has been extended by months or years, breaking budgets beyond any expectations.

Enter Backup & Replication v12 with direct-to-object backups. Now, Veeam users can maximize the capacity of their high-performance on-prem systems while also leveraging cloud object storage as a primary target for their backups. This capability has also been extended to NAS backup as well as endpoint (laptops, desktops) backup. This new approach provides IT operations teams with a simpler way to scale their data protection operations and employ the advantages of immutability to ensure their data is secure from any threats. With the right cloud storage service provider, this also provides a predictable cost approach for testing the recoverability of their data as well as extending the retention period of their backup data.

The economic change this promises is nothing short of revolutionary. The current approach is a hardware/service/support hamster wheel without any exit. As the data you use every day grows, so does the backup dataset, by 3x to 6x, depending on your data protection strategy. Even with compression and deduplication, typically available on the more expensive backup appliances, that can still put enormous pressure on budgets that are already being strained by new demands like increased cybersecurity and compliance, as well as constrained supply chains.

The rise of cloud object storage

Cloud object storage, as evidenced by this new release from Veeam, is now a first-class citizen in the pantheon of storage protocols. With the right planning and implementation, cloud object storage satisfies all the key requirements for data protection: performance, security, availability, durability, and price. But it is a predictable price, especially, that will tip the scales for enterprises large and small to shift their datasets to cloud object storage. Imagine having as many immutable copies of your data stored for as long as you want, knowing exactly how much you will pay to store that data, regardless of how often you upload or download that data. That means you can exercise recovery/DR processes, something every organization should do frequently, without having to worry about getting a massive bill at the end of the month. Of course, that means you need to find a cloud object storage service provider that offers all of the aforementioned features (performance, availability, etc.) without excessive egress or API fees.

The ideal storage target for direct-to-object backups

If it wasn’t already obvious, that’s the superpower of Wasabi – NO egress or API fees, ever. It is your data – do what you need to do with it and we’ll make sure nobody messes with it.

Should you ditch the hybrid architecture with its hardware hamster wheel, and move all your backups to the cloud? Maybe, maybe not, but now is a very good time to start thinking about it, especially with the new direct-to-[cloud]-object feature in Veeam Backup & Recovery v12. Why? Because when it comes time to either upgrade and migrate your data or renew your service/support contract, it might just be better to consider the benefits of putting multiple copies in the cloud at a cost you can count on year after year. Should you take advantage of the benefits of cloud object storage (e.g., immutability) to store secure copies of your backup data? Absolutely!

Learn more about Veeam’s latest v12 release and start your free trial of Wasabi at the same time so you can see how easy it is to store immutable backups in the cloud.