Microsoft Ignite sparks third-party storage, backup offers
A flurry of storage and backup news has emerged around Microsoft Ignite, including from Dell, as it looks to support hybrid cloud customers and establish solid footing with Azure.
Generative AI might have taken center stage at Microsoft Ignite this week, but third-party vendors added to the mix by stepping up their own storage and data backup offerings.
Vendors that partner with Microsoft are using Ignite, an annual conference for IT pros and developers, to launch new or added backup offerings, utilizing deeper integration capabilities provided by Microsoft 365 Backup Storage, a platform for backups and restorations at scale for third-party vendors that launched in July. Microsoft 365 Backup Storage also supports Microsoft 365 Backup, a Microsoft-managed SaaS backup service that launched simultaneously with the platform.
Such a platform can offer better access to Azure's features and code compared with relatively standardized and locked-down public APIs, according to Brent Ellis, an analyst at Forrester Research.
"Rather than having to go through the normal API thresholds, you get a little more access to the back end," Ellis said.
Ignite attendees include enterprise IT customers looking for traditional hybrid cloud services, Ellis said. He explained that makes the conference an ideal space for enterprise and data backup vendors to fill the storage void.
Dell Technologies, for one, plans to preview new Apex hybrid cloud storage services in Azure alongside the Ignite conference.
The files in the Dell
Dell unveiled two services for Microsoft Azure as part of its Apex infrastructure-as-a-service portfolio. Dell Apex File Storage for Microsoft Azure and Dell Apex Protection Services for Microsoft Azure are fully managed Dell services sold through Azure that will launch in early 2025, according to the vendor.
A customer-managed version of Apex File Storage was previously available.
Dell Apex File Storage for Microsoft Azure provides the software and management capabilities of Dell PowerScale file storage within Azure, enabling hybrid cloud operations for Dell customers.
Dell Apex Protection Services combines Dell staff management with AI monitoring from Dell CyberSense threat intelligence for cloud data protection and monitoring edge activity.
Dell has a lot more skin in the game with Microsoft.
Brent EllisAnalyst, Forrester Research
Microsoft’s customers using Dell hardware and software are likely operating in a hybrid cloud model with numerous on-premises applications and data centers, Ellis said. Azure's total share of the hyperscaler market is increasing as it serves these hybrid customers, compared with born-in-the-cloud startups and enterprises already courted by AWS, he said.
"Dell has a lot more skin in the game with Microsoft," Ellis said. "They probably have the ear of the Azure [customers] more than AWS [customers]."
Backup roundup
Backup vendors Druva, Rubrik, Catalogic and Veeam also released updates and news about their respective data backup platforms this week, touting capabilities related to Microsoft Azure or Microsoft 365.
Druva, as of last week, supports backups for Microsoft Dynamics 365 -- a suite of business SaaS apps -- and the use of Microsoft 365 Backup Storage within the Druva Security Cloud platform. A full launch for both services is expected in early 2025, according to the vendor.
On Tuesday, Rubrik launched a new set of data protection capabilities for Azure Blob Storage, an object storage offering. The features include discovery and classification of object data, capabilities to highlight security flaws or compromised data and automated management tools for tiering and recovery.
Catalogic launched DPX vPlus 7.0 Tuesday. The release marks the latest update for the company's data protection platform, which now supports data encryption for Microsoft 365. But Microsoft 365 news was only one component of Catalogic's update, as the platform now supports integration with Red Hat OpenShift, Canonical OpenStack and Proxmox with Ceph for further data backup offerings.
Earlier this month, Veeam updated the Veeam Data Cloud Vault, a cloud air-gapped storage service managed by Veeam and located in Azure that launched last summer. The Data Cloud Vault offers two pricing options and integration of the service with the Veeam Data Platform, the vendor's flagship data protection offering. Pricing options include Foundation at $14 per terabyte of storage monthly, or Advanced at $24 per terabyte of storage monthly. Advanced enables customers to select the Azure region for storage and includes unlimited reads and restores.
Tim McCarthy is a news writer for TechTarget Editorial covering cloud and data storage.
