CommVault : Don’t Get Left Behind – Transform Your Data Protection With Machine Learning and AI

Posted 01/16/2019 by Don Foster

If you ventured in the North Hall of the recent Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas, you would be mistaken for stepping into a car show. AI was literally everywhere with innovators showcasing how the technology would make everyone's life easier and how it would give us back that most valuable gift - time.

That's something that I and every commuter can appreciate with the Auto Insurance Center estimating that the average commuter spends 42 hours a week (a full work week!) in traffic.

This is why artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies are viewed so strategically, not only in our daily lives but also in business. When our cars transform from a tool you use to get to a destination to an AI-driven service that delivers you to your destination (self-driving car is your digital chauffeur assistant), you unlock the ability to refocus your time and energy potentially on more high value needs while letting the intelligence in a connected and AI-driven car manage the mundane tasks.

The same can be said about the IT world we live in. Late last calendar year I put out several predictions for where I see IT and the data protection requirements heading into 2019.

One of my favorite predictions I see happening right before us. 'Artificial intelligence and machine learning will become a requirement for new solutions for simplified operations.' Time is critical in business and, much like driving in traffic, backup and data management operations all can benefit from AI-assisted operations. The ability to self-optimize operations, schedules and activity toward the destination or SLA your business defines, without your constant management and involvement, changes the complete experience you have in ensuring your business is protected, recovery ready and able to meet the next level of governance and compliance requests that come your way.

At Commvault GO our VP of Engineering, Rajiv Kottomtharayil, in a quick seven-minute talk, showcased how AI and machine learning built into Commvault Complete™ Backup and Recovery changed his experience and required time to ensure our business is always recovery ready.

The data protection space is getting exciting already in 2019, as there have been several announcements of investment and potential expansion in recent days. Rubrik recently announced $261 million of additional funding for it to enter what its CEO, Bipul Sinha, stated will be the second phase of its company, where it will start to look at where AI can help with data management processes. I congratulate Rubrik with the funding and its plans to innovate, but I cannot help but reflect on how thought-leading Commvault remains in this very dynamic space. We don't believe a customer should have to wait to see the benefits of AI and ML implemented into your IT strategy and, more important, your business solutions.

While the market is waking up to the realization that AI- and ML-integrated operations will be the next major experience change in ensuring you are recovery ready - we, at Commvault, have already delivered it to you. In fact, we have already added, improved and innovated further on our AI and ML integration to improve your experience, recovery readiness and ability to get your time back. AI-aided operations on-premises together with data management pave the way for a smooth transition to cloud services. If you are going to the cloud you may as well 'Cloud Responsibly.'

Adding to news for the first two weeks of this year, Veeam just announced an additional $500 million in funding to help drive M&A activity. We all expect more consolidation in vendors, products and solutions to occur this year, and it will be interesting to watch which direction Veeam will go with this newly-acquired cash. Perhaps it will fill a major gap it has in providing integrated hardware solutions with its software, or maybe it will be investing in a plan to develop AI integration with its products. Only time will tell. As we all know through other acquisition efforts across the industry, it takes more time and money to provide an integrated experience with disparate products.

We don't think you should have to wait to reap the rewards of the technical innovation happening around us. Transform the way you manage your data and do it today from a single integrated product.

Learn more about Complete Backup and Recovery.

Don Foster
leads Commvault's worldwide solutions marketing team and is a total technology enthusiast. He can often be seen speaking at industry events with customers and the analyst/press community.