HYCU Protégé integrates Kubernetes data protection
Backup and recovery vendor HYCU has added Kubernetes protection, an increasingly popular trend. The first release targets Google Kubernetes Engine users, with more support to come.
HYCU has launched Protégé for Kubernetes, which provides data protection for the white-hot container orchestration platform.
According to Gartner, more than 85% of organizations will run containerized applications in production by 2025, said Subbiah Sundaram, vice president of products at HYCU. There are challenges to container data protection, though.
"In the world of containers, one of the things we hear from customers is complexity," Sundaram said.
Many HYCU customers have asked about containers. HYCU sought to design containerized protection that's natively integrated with its platform, said CEO Simon Taylor.
HYCU Protégé for Kubernetes, which became generally available Thursday, does not add to the complexity of containers, Taylor said.
Among the features, automated discovery of applications ensures that one user interface identifies and manages Kubernetes-based workloads.
With policy-based data protection, users do not need to be backup administrators. The self-service capabilities support container-based application development.
When it's time for recovery, users can recover an entire application from single persistent disks and configuration files. Selective cross-cluster recovery enables the use of multi-regions and locations to spin up applications.
Protection of configurations and persistent storage is critical in Kubernetes environments.
"But the bigger thing for customers is to not just capture the raw configurations and persistent storage, but capture it in an application-specific basis, so that organizations can manage and utilize the protected data at scale and meaningfully," Sundaram said.
Multi-cloud backup and recovery provider HYCU has integrated Kubernetes protection into its Protégé platform.
Krista Macomber, a senior analyst at Evaluator Group, said she likes that the Kubernetes protection has been integrated into the HYCU Protégé multi-cloud backup and recovery platform as part of its broader service. In addition, the as-a-service delivery helps it stand out.
"Customers can apply protection policies globally and manage the container environment alongside their other resources under HYCU protection, centrally from one UI," Macomber said. "This essentially folds the container resources in as an extension of the customer's existing data protection strategy and implementation."
HYCU has worked on the Kubernetes offering for the last year, Taylor said. While a lot of that effort preceded HYCU's $87.5 million financing round led by Bain Capital Ventures, the money will help with the product's rollout.
"We are going to be able to push this to many thousands of customers very quickly," Taylor said.
The container data protection market has surged in recent months. Pure Storage acquired Portworx for its container management, while Veeam bought Kasten and its Kubernetes backup and recovery platform. Other vendors that provide Kubernetes protection include Catalogic, Commvault, Trilio and Zerto.
This was not a bolt-on acquisition. By design, it's natively integrated into HYCU Protégé.
Simon TaylorCEO, HYCU
"This was not a bolt-on acquisition," Taylor said. "By design, it's natively integrated into HYCU Protégé."
While the industry is not "over the hump of the bell curve" as far as customers realizing the need for container protection, awareness is growing by the month, he added.
Macomber noted that it's still the early days of containerized environments moving into production, and the market for protection of those workloads is further behind. She said customers are asking about the best approaches and products for container data protection.
"HYCU was not first to market, but in typical HYCU fashion, it took the time to make sure it checked off key capabilities -- like protecting all application configurations -- before going to market," Macomber said. "Based on where the market is at, I'd say that the latter is more important than the former right now."
HYCU designed the product to work across all platforms that it supports and will launch Protégé for Kubernetes in phases to support deep integration with each cloud. The initial release supports Google Cloud customers who use Google Kubernetes Engine. Support for AWS, Microsoft Azure and Nutanix Karbon will follow later this year, Taylor said.
HYCU Protégé for Kubernetes is available through authorized reseller and channel partners. HCYU, based in Boston, claims about 2,000 customers.
