Recently on a weekend break to the countryside, I got an opportunity of night sky gazing. Beautiful vast dome full of stars – the view that we miss in city lights. Staring at stars and constellations, when I looked at the bright Pole Star, I went into a reflective mood, thinking about how it has been 'The Always-On Guiding Light.' A constant companion and guide to travelers in navigating their path in the world of ever-changing challenges and opportunities.
That's when it occurred to me that so has been 'Backup Exec' – A Pole Star. A constant companion to system and backup administrators in this ever-changing world of Data Protection.
Let's look back at this journey with a Pole Star in a dramatically changing landscape in the world of data protection.
Data growth over the years has been at a breakneck pace, which has amplified the challenges of keeping backup window and storage requirements manageable. Besides, the recovery of data is required to be faster than ever. Backup Exec has been supporting users to manage these challenges. From its support for deduplication storage almost a decade back to recent features like Accelerator and support for 'Resilient Change Tracking,' it has been enabling efficient storage of data and faster backups. 'Instant Recovery,' true to its name, enables a system administrator to recover data instantly in case of loss of primary data.
It's said that "data is the new oil." The criticality and strategic importance of data as an asset has seen new regulations coming up to prevent its misuse. GDPR brought in most signifying changes in data privacy protection. It has become very important for system administrators to use the right tools that enable them to be compliant with GDPR. Backup Exec, soon after GDPR coming into effect, brought out GDPR Guard capability which allows users to block access to backup data as required by their need to be GDPR compliant.
A critical asset needs protection not only from misuse but also from malicious attacks. Ransomware has emerged as perhaps the most significant threat for corporates as well as individual consumers. Backup is the first line of defense against Ransomware, but what if the backup copy itself is rendered unusable by Ransomware. The backup copy is a valuable asset. That's why Backup Exec introduced Ransomware Resiliency, which protects backed up data against unauthorized changes.
Backup Exec has always ensured that users can incorporate new technologies and incorporate new use cases without worrying about data protection. With cloud ushering in entirely new ways, applications are used, and businesses seek continuous uptime, Backup Exec was quick to bring in features to help users make the best of this new scenario. It introduced a single pane of monitoring for protecting SaaS applications like Office 365, Salesforce, and G-Suite with Veritas SaaS Backup. Integration with Azure Site Recovery gave the capability of 'Instant Cloud Recovery' in users' hands to use Cloud for Disaster Recovery.
Someone said, "A real voyager's journey never ends, it goes on by exploring new routes."
Pole Star will continue to support travelers on their journey. Backup Exec 21, the upcoming release, is making sure the light keeps shining with new capabilities and features to keep the voyage Simple and Secured.
