Veeam Acquires N2WS In Play For AWS Cloud-Native Data Protection

Veeam Tuesday unveiled the acquisition of N2WS, a small developer of data protection and disaster recovery offerings with native AWS cloud capabilities.

N2WS, based in West Palm Beach, Fla., with its primary development done in Haifa, Israel, said it is the largest provider of data protection AWS environments. Its technology provides an enterprise-class offering purpose-built for the AWS cloud with full support for EC2/EBS, RDS, RedShift and Aurora.

[Related: Veeam Extends Data Protection To Microsoft's Azure Stack]

Veeam, which last year made an equity investment in N2WS, paid $42.5 million for the company.

The initial investment Veeam made in N2WS gave the company an opportunity to closely watch how the AWS data protection market evolved, said Peter McKay, co-founder and CEO of Baar, Switzerland-based Veeam.

"What was clear over the last couple of months is they just continued to exceed our expectations," McKay told CRN. "We saw that as very complementary to our business. So we looked at that, and with our equity position found it easier to buy."

N2WS will continue operations as a separate company under the name "N2WS, A Veeam Company."

Prior to the acquisition of N2WS, Veeam's cloud business was focused mainly on Microsoft Azure, the IBM Cloud, and VMware on Azure, McKay said. The company also worked with AWS, but did not have an AWS-native offering, he said.

"N2WS is natively developed for AWS," he said. "It's No. 1 or No. 2 in the marketplace. And it's enjoyed incredible success, really becoming a critical part of the AWS ecosystem from day one. … It's natively developed, meaning it's focused on nothing but AWS. It's a tighter solution that is incredibly leverageable within the AWS environment."

Unlike Veeam, which runs a channel-only sales model, about half of N2WS's sales come directly via the Amazon Marketplace and half via indirect channels, McKay said. "Ultimately, it will be the Veeam channel that'll distribute N2WS," he said. "That's an opportunity for the Veeam channel to add AWS to their portfolio."

However, McKay said that Veeam will continue to offer N2WS via the Amazon Marketplace.

"People go to AWS for a workload," he said. "Yeah, we will keep that. But more complex, comprehensive workloads will typically go through a channel rep. That's what [N2WS has] seen. People want to try it, will maybe go to the [Amazon] Marketplace. But ultimately, their model is more indirect, traditional channel mode. And that's the way we want it."

McKay said that while N2WS will be run as a separate company, its technology will be integrated into the Veeam platform.

"People who buy Veeam can get a license of N2WS as well for 60 days," he said. "And when the fully integrated version becomes available, then they can upgrade to that version. So right off the bat we're going to allow the customers to leverage that technology as we're merging the technologies together."

Veeam channel partners liked how Veeam is expanding into the AWS cloud environment and opening new potential opportunities for them.

It is a natural progression for Veeam, said Ron Venzin, partner at Focal Point Solution Solutions Group, an Ellenton, Fla.-based solution provider and Veeam channel partner.

"Actually, AWS is a requirement," Venzin told CRN. "There are so many organizations finding the cloud to be increasingly important. It's growing. People are looking to put more on clouds, not less. This means more opportunity for Veeam, and more opportunity for us."

The acquisition is important for customers already on the Veeam platform, Venzin said. "Customers are looking for alternatives," he said. "And if they want AWS, having it with Veeam is a good option because Veeam is already their product choice. Knowing Veeam, they will make AWS easier."

Chris Pace, founder and CEO of Centre Technologies, a Houston-based solution provider and Veeam channel partner, told CRN that while Azure is his company's primary public cloud focus, Veeam's acquisition of N2WS provides the tools to make it easier to expand with customers to the AWS cloud.

"Veeam making acquisitions like this gives organizations like us more tools in the tool chest to leverage more cloud providers," Pace said. "Partners are all looking for the tools to manage cloud environments like they do on-premises environments. We've had a lot of tools for on-premises, but when we move to the cloud, things like visibility, monitoring and protection can get taken away."