ESG Blogs

ESG has historically referred to "data protection" as a spectrum of activities that include backup, snapshots, and replication, as shown here:

It would be easy to assume that because the Veritas name has been around for more than 20 years, its products are all legacy and no longer suitable to modern data centers or IT scenarios; you would be wrong. Veritas is “back” after its divestiture from Symantec—with a laser focus on data management that very effectively narrates a comprehensive portfolio to its customers and partners.

Think about it. If I’m an IT Operations team member:

• I provision new servers (usually VMs), but some physical and some cloud-based.
• I patch and maintain those servers.
• I provide or rescind access to the applications on those servers.
• I monitor those servers for performance and uptime.
• And when those servers go down, I am the first one who gets called.

VMworld is still “the place to be” for discussing data center modernization—and that means that there were several data protection vendors in attendance, each with something to say.

Copy Data Management (CDM) and all the permutations of “Copy” “Data” “Management” with or without additional terms like “Active” “Enterprise” “Virtualization,” etc., seems to be the rage these days. A few years ago, there was only one visionary company talking about CDM. Today, we see a range of vendors now claiming to be CDM, even when they don’t deliver the breadth of capabilities that the industry may have presumed CDM to be; and others who have been quietly delivering those capabilities and more, without the terminology (a.k.a. they were CDM before CDM was cool).

Probably not … but not for the reasons that you think. As most folks are getting ready for VMworld next week, ESG has published a brief, Is a VM-specific Approach to Backup & Recovery Still Necessary in 2017?

At the halfway point in 2017, it seems appropriate to revisit the continued momentum around investing in better, more agile, more reliable, likely cloud-enhanced data protection. Early each year, ESG publishes its IT Spending Intentions report, where we look at where organizations are intending to invest their budgets. 

In each of the six years that I have been at ESG, “Data Protection” in one or more forms is among the top of one or more priority lists. 

It seems like every few months, a new regulation or mandate pops up to remind people to 1) keep their data longer and/or 2) delete it as soon as necessary. Those two edicts are not contrary to each other as long as you do them in that sequence; first, understand your retention requirements and then delete data beyond that retention date. But there is sooooo much more to it than that, since not all data has the same regulatory or operational retention benefits or requirements. 

If you haven’t seen it already, please check out my earlier vBlog on “The Good, Better, Best of Data Management”

Each Wednesday in June, I explored an aspect of utilizing cloud services as part of your data protection strategy through a series of videos and blogs – based on ESG’s Data Protection Cloud Strategies research report.

Part 1 – WHY use clouds as part of your data protection strategy … June 7

Part 2 – WHICH clouds to use within your data protection strategy … June 14  

Part 3 – HOW to ensure security when using clouds within your data protection strategy … June 21

Part 4 – WHAT products or services might you consider when using clouds within your data protection strategy … June 28

Each Wednesday in June, I’ll be exploring an aspect of this through a series of videos and blogs – based on ESG’s Data Protection Cloud Strategies research report. 

Part 1 – WHY use clouds as part of your data protection strategy … June 7 

Part 2 – WHICH clouds to use within your data protection strategy … June 14 

Part 3 – HOW to ensure security when using clouds within your data protection strategy … June 21

Part 4 – WHAT products or services might you consider when using clouds within your data protection strategy … June 28