Commvault Intros GDPR Analytics, Endpoint Backup-As-A-Service And A New Google Cloud Partnership
Data protection technology developer Commvault on Tuesday introduced new data analytics capabilities for the vast amount of data customers already manage using Commvault technology.
At its Commvault Go conference in Washington, D.C., the vendor also debuted new cloud-based data protection services for endpoint devices and a new relationship with Google Cloud.
"We're launching a portfolio of analytics products including applications and services, all focused on helping partners build their analytics capabilities," a Commvault spokesperson told CRN.
Commvault's first analytics application is one focused on GDPR, General Data Protection Regulation, a European regulation scheduled to take effect in May. GDPR regulates how companies who store or access customer data protect that data and provide consumer control over their data.
Even for U.S.-based channel partners, GDPR is a big deal. "In the enterprise space, it's difficult to find a partner not doing business in Europe or with a supplier who works within Europe," Commvault's spokesperson said.
The GDPR-focused analytics capability, scheduled to be available by year-end, is the first in a series of analytics offerings Commvault will add to its data management platform, the spokesperson said. The Commvault data management platform was designed to easily allow new narrowly-focused functionality as analytics plug right in with no integration needed.
Commvault collects data from a wide variety of sources into its platform, making the addition of analytics a valuable capability, said Glenn Dekhayser, field chief technology officer at Red8, a Costa Mesa, Calif.-based solution provider and long-time Commvault channel partner.
Commvault already has the indexing that allows the creating of metadata which can be exposed to a variety of analytics, Dekhayser told CRN.
"People talk about data lakes," Dekhayser said. "Commvault builds data lakes of all a customers' data, allowing customers to do classification, analytics, retention, and more. Users are not good at putting data in the right place. Humans make mistakes."
Commvault has had content-aware data management for some time, and analytics makes that data more valuable, Dekhayser said.
"Commvault is already three generations ahead of everyone," he said. "This can create complexity. Commvault is sometimes called the 'SAP of data protection.' But if you have all that valuable data, you need to bring enterprise-class management to it."
Commvault is also introducing endpoint backup-as-a-service. The company has always provided endpoint backups, but only using on-premises infrastructures. "Demand for data protection for mobile devices is growing, and cloud-based backups have been a gap in our offerings," Commvault's spokesperson said. "But there's a high demand for cloud-based data protection for any devices on the edge, including laptops, iPads, Surfaces, mobile phones, and more."
Stand-alone endpoint data protection in itself is not a big deal, Dekhayser said. "But when you combine it with all the other data that needs to be protected, it becomes important," he said. "Endpoint data protection is not something companies want to manage. They want a company like Commvault to manage it with the same love and care it does with all data."
Also new from Commvault this week is a new partnership with Google Cloud as part of Commvault's multi-cloud strategy. Commvault said it can ensure all levels of service, from cold storage to production data, work on Google. The company said it already works with Azure, Amazon Web Services, Oracle and many other cloud services.
"Google Cloud has some Amazon-like capabilities and some Azure-like capabilities," Dekhayser said. "Commvault can extract the data protection features and make them the same no matter which cloud the client wants to go to. Commvault gives customers the option to go to their cloud of choice, and gives them an exit strategy if they want to leave."