cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

A Conversation with Veritas Chief Technology Officer, Cameron Bahar

AlexSakaguchi
Level 2
Employee

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Veritas’ new Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Cameron Bahar. We talked about his journey to Veritas, his impressions so far, and where he envisions Veritas’s development efforts going. Listen to our full conversation in Episode 40: CTO Series: Data Management Vision with Cameron Bahar.

Cameron’s Journey to Veritas

Cameron’s background is in distributed operating systems and storage. In 2004, he founded ParaScale, where he developed a private cloud storage software product. Eventually, ParaScale was acquired by Hitachi Data Systems, where Cameron served as CTO and chief strategist of scale-out storage and big data analytics. About five years ago, he joined Huawei, where he launched a cloud and enterprise storage business unit that he grew from $200 million dollars to $7.5 billion!  Today, he’s delighted to join us at Veritas.

Why Veritas?

Over the years, Cameron worked with a number of Veritas engineers, and he liked what he saw. “I was very impressed with their depth of knowledge, and I liked the Veritas brand and what it represented,” he says. In particular, he wanted to be part of Veritas’ focus on software defined storage and data protection. As he notes, “At Veritas, we’re not limited by proprietary hardware, so we can solve real data management problems without vendor lock-in or being restricted to a single hardware platform.”

The Fast Pace of Product Development

When I asked Cameron what has already been notable for him at Veritas so far, he didn’t hesitate to answer. “I was surprised at the fast pace of engineering delivery. It’s refreshing to see agile development methodologies that allow us to roll out products quickly.” I agree with his observation. In fact, I estimate that we’ve launched more products in the last 18 or 24 months than we did in the ten years prior!

The Challenges of Our Enterprise Customers 

Meeting_HandShake_Lounge_05.jpgI asked Cameron where he sees development going. He noted that applications are becoming increasingly mobile, which has made data protection more challenging. He explains: “In the old days, applications were static and tied to a particular server. But with the rise of public clouds, it’s become much harder for enterprise IT organizations to know where everything is and to manage and protect it properly. It’s become a very complex environment.”

To further complicate matters, IT is losing control. “In the old days, IT was in charge. But now, various departments are going to public clouds independently and creating applications,” noted Cameron. Greater visibility, and a stricter regulatory environment, compounds the complexity even more. “The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws will take effect this year, and consumers want protection and privacy. Bringing order into this complex system is a big challenge.” 

Implementing a Software-Defined Strategy is the Answer

When I asked Cameron how these challenges can be solved, he pointed to software-defined strategies. “You need a 360 degree approach to data – and that’s what we specialize in at Veritas,” he explains. “Companies must think holistically about their environments and find ways to layer in intelligent software that allows them to see data as it’s created and then protect, optimize, and provide insights into it.” 

But is that realistic? Cameron says yes. “We’re already building new products and investing in platforms that will allow us to connect the dots. This is a complex problem for our customers, and Veritas has the opportunity to solve it.” Cameron’s confidence is backed by all Veritas has accomplished so far. “Veritas is trusted by customers to store and backup their data. We’re already working with Fortune 500 companies, and we’ve achieved a near 90% penetration rate in those accounts.” He notes that Veritas didn’t get here by accident. “We achieved that level of trust by delivering rock-solid products that are reliable and resilient. Today, we’re leveraging our experience and the goodwill we’ve built over the past 20 years to innovate around this core technology.”

Listen to the Podcast
Visit iTunes to listen to this ‘Voice of Veritas’ podcast, “Episode 40: CTO Series: Data Management Vision with Cameron Bahar” for more of our discussion. To learn more about our 360 degree approach to data management, visit Veritas.com.

 

Subscribe to the Voice of Veritas podcast to get new episodes as they’re released.