Bobby Hellard

Keumars Afifi-Sabet

Bobby Hellard

Veeam has always been a green company – in terms of its branding and UI at least – and now the Swiss cloud backup and data management provider is getting its Green Card.

Software investor Insight Partners announced it is set to acquire Veeam in a transaction valued at $5 billion (£3.84bn), with Veeam becoming a US-based company with a US leadership team.

Veeam focuses on what it describes as a ‘single platform for cloud, virtual and physical’; integrating cloud backup and disaster recovery, orchestration, mobility, monitoring and analytics. The company has found leadership roles in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for data centre backup and recovery solutions on three occasions, with Insight Partners boasting Veeam as ‘the clear market leader’, with more than $1 billion claimed in annual sales and more than 365,000 global customers.

William H. Largent, previously executive vice president operations, is promoted to CEO as part of the acquisition. “Veeam has enjoyed rapid global growth over the last decade and we see tremendous opportunity for future growth, particularly in the US market,” said Largent in a statement. “Veeam has one of the highest calibre global workforces of any technology company, and we believe this acquisition will allow us to scale our team and technology at an unrivalled pace.”

The comment around US expansion is an interesting one, as many will recognise Veeam as a European stronghold offering differentiation through choice and simplicity – and partnering with US companies to help them cross the chasm for European customers. CloudTech spoke with David Friend, CEO of storage provider Wasabi Technologies, in August as the company was in Europe having just announced partnership agreements. Veeam was one of the first partners.

It has been a busy – and expensive – week for Insight. Earlier the company confirmed it was buying Armis for $1.1bn in what was claimed as the largest enterprise Internet of Things (IoT) cybersecurity transaction.

“Veeam’s platform is the most advanced and complete data management solution available to businesses requiring a seamless blend of data backup and recovery, data protection, data security and data availability,” said Insight Partners managing director Mike Triplett in a statement. “We are committed to supporting Veeam’s next phase of leadership and growth in the United States, continued market-share leadership position in EMEA and continued global expansion.”

The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.

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“I’m someone who always has to speak up if there is any injustice,” says Ela Osterberger, director of data science at Deliveroo. “As soon as I see something not being quite right, I have to speak about it.”

Being an experienced data science leader, with Omnicom and The Guardian among others before Deliveroo, means Osterberger has seen her fair share of it over the years. Presenting her Master’s thesis, for instance, it struck Osterberger that she was the only woman in the room. She has also noted fighting against a culture where ‘men solve problems.’

The path to a senior role at a name brand well-known for its tech expertise – as far back as 2017 the company said its ethos had been based entirely on data efficiency – was one not known when Osterberger received her Master’s. Naturally, data science was not an industry in its own right, with business and data analysts in vogue. Yet that was by no means the starting point.

I had to study coding at home secretly so no-one would judge me – and it turned out I’m actually quite good at it

“I always liked mathematics but I couldn’t see myself having a career in it,” Osterberger tells CloudTech. “I think that’s because the way I identified economics – I was interested in the more political and social aspect – but only then did I realise how passionate I was about statistics.” One element for Osterberger, however, stood in her favour. “I didn’t ever care about fitting in,” she says. “I wasn’t quite sure what I was studying for, but I guess I just kept doing the things that I loved which I think really helped me in my career.”

As is becoming increasingly apparent, a maths degree can open doors to virtually any industry. The need for data, and the ability to crunch it and gain insights, is a universal language. Deliveroo has one of the largest groups of data scientists in the UK at around 100, and as of last month was still accepting applications.

The primary languages for success in data science – R, Python, SQL – are also important to the projects Deliveroo is undertaking. But to really impress Osterberger, you have to be made of the right stuff.

“One of the things that is really important is behaviour and cultural fit,” says Osterberger. “For a company that’s growing so quickly, it’s really important to hire people who keep the team culture healthy. Right now, one of the things I’m proudest of is [that] the team is so humble. Everyone is sharing with each other, and people constantly develop each other because they work together.”

Deliveroo’s data scientists are grouped into different areas of the organisation. Some work on market development and strategic initiatives, while there are approximately 25 product teams. It is worth noting the three key stakeholders in Deliveroo’s business; the restaurant, the rider, and the customer. The company has distinct teams which work to improve the experience and efficiency for all three.

Osterberger’s role is now entirely focused on the management side, compared to a more hands-on focus when she started in 2017. This is arguably down to both the expansion and Osterberger’s management style. “I focus a lot on the team and culture,” she says. “I try to hire really brilliant people, from all over the world, and provide them with what they need to be as successful as they can be. I give feedback on their work, make the right conversations happen, introduce them to other people in the company they should talk to, and make sure they have all the skills they need.”

This is translated in hiring more women in data science roles and trying to achieve equality; Osterberger estimates recent hires to be at approximately 50/50. “We’re definitely getting a lot better at attracting women now than we have been,” she notes. “It’s not for the lack of trying – but something actually seems to be changing now.”

The change is highlighted by events such as Women in Data, which ran its latest iteration in London in November. In collaboration with online retailer NBrown, the event saw the publishing of its latest list of 20 inspiring women across the entire data landscape – in which Osterberger placed. Event co-founder Rachel Keane said Osterberger was "another fine ambassador who will be a visible example to inspire women at all stages of their careers."

The event itself was ‘amazing’, Osterberger added. “The energy was amazing and seeing so many women now going into data science and analytics really fills me with hope,” she said. “I think they’re really going to change the industry for the better.”

One of the things I’m proudest of is the data science team is so humble. People constantly develop each other because they are working together

In October, CloudTech spoke with Keane, who noted something of a parallel with getting things up and running. From a recruitment perspective, Keane, and fellow co-founder Roisin McCarthy, found they had placed fewer women for data and analytics roles in 2014 than they had in 2000. This was by no means a negligent act, of course; but both realised that it wasn’t a case of giving women more opportunities, but by helping women maximise the various skills they already have.

Events such as Women in Data are therefore part solidarity and part showing off. Getting greater awareness and more role models in the industry – of which Osterberger is undoubtedly one – will create a snowball effect that will hopefully in the coming years be impossible to stop.

Yet for all the injustice which continues to pervade for women in STEM, moving out of one’s comfort zone will help move things faster. “I think just being really brave and saying yes to opportunities is really important,” says Osterberger. “I remember at university I tried not to take the coding classes because I thought I couldn’t do it, I might fail.

“I had to start studying coding at home secretly, so no-one would judge me – and it turned out I’m actually quite good at it.”

Picture credit: Women in Data/NBrown

Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and sharing their experiences and use-cases? Attend the Cyber Security & Cloud Expo World Series with upcoming events in Silicon Valley, London and Amsterdam to learn more.

Nicole Kobie

Keumars Afifi-Sabet

Bobby Hellard

By now, most businesses have made or are at least planning to make the shift to the cloud. As the benefits of a hybrid and multi-cloud environment become well-known, organisations are turning to VMware’s hybrid cloud platform: VMware Cloud on AWS.

VMware Cloud on AWS offers organisations scalability, support for strategic initiatives, and cost savings for use cases like data centre extension, disaster recovery (DR), and more. Organisations across varied industries—especially tech services, financial services, education, and healthcare—are prepared to embrace VMware Cloud on AWS.

Moving to VMware Cloud on AWS simplifies cloud adoption and reduces the disruptions associated with other cloud initiatives. By evaluating the fit, identifying organisational benefits, and being mindful of the elements involved in making the move, you’ll further reduce the risks that hinder large IT infrastructure transformation projects.

For any organisation considering VMware Cloud on AWS, think about the following five key aspects. These will help ensure that you leverage all of the benefits and ultimately realise a seamless migration.

Define business objectives and success criteria

Before embarking on your cloud journey, identify the business objectives that cloud will help your business achieve. Organisations across industries turn to the cloud in order to:

• Deliver consistent global operations
• Cost-effectively expand their data centre footprints
• Leverage cloud-native tooling to enhance data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to improve market and business performance
• Improve business resiliency from natural disasters, cyberattacks, ransomware, and power outages,
• Reduce costs associated with building and managing data centres
• Increase elasticity

If your business objective is to deliver consistent global operations, which cloud locations offer your proximity and low latencies between applications, storage, and users? If your business objective is to improve business resiliency, how quickly do business-critical applications need to be restored after a disaster event?

Once you understand your goals for cloud adoption or migration, learn from others who have similar use cases.

Match business objective to primary VMware Cloud on AWS use cases

Organisations are adopting VMware Cloud on AWS to satisfy four primary use cases. The first use case, data centre extension, allows businesses to augment their existing on-prem data centres with cloud resources and add test/dev capabilities without building out a physical data centre. VMware Cloud on AWS offers these companies a cloud environment that’s operationally similar to their on-prem VMware environments.

The second most popular use case is cloud migration. Transition your on-prem data centre into the cloud in an efficient, frictionless manner. Migrating VMware workloads from on-premises to VMware Cloud on AWS avoids the hidden costs of refactoring applications and re-skilling your workforce. Wholly or partially replacing existing on-prem and colo data centres lowers facilities, cooling, and labour costs, freeing up funds for strategic business initiatives.

Another popular use case is leveraging AWS integrated apps to perform early predictive analytics, access artificial intelligence (AI), and utilise machine learning capabilities to develop unstructured and semi-structured data to yield actionable market and business analysis. VMware Cloud in AWS opens up integrations and reduces latency between your applications and Amazon Native services.

Finally, disaster recovery (DR) rounds out this use case quartet. Cloud-based DR can be brought online within seconds or minutes—much faster than traditional DR sites. VMware Cloud on AWS is a perfect fit for companies that want to implement a DR solution for the first time, modernise their DR solution, reduce DR costs, or protect specific application workloads with a cloud-based DR solution.

VMware Cloud on AWS provides a stepping stone to the cloud. Immediately realise benefits from moving VMware workloads into the cloud with minimal retraining, then focus on more intensive applications that require additional time and effort.

Plan your ideal migration

As you plan your move to VMware Cloud on AWS, heed the lessons learned about configuring network, storage, and compute resources from others who have paved the way. First and foremost, use the tools and expertise you already have in-house. You may already have the necessary tools in-house such as site recovery manager (SRM), hybrid cloud extension (HCX), Double-Take, and hybrid linked mode.

Next, choose the right connectivity. Plan, document, iterate, and consult with your experts. It will be worth the up-front investment of time. Know your application’s limitations and abilities when connecting to any other environment (e.g., extending Layer 2, VPNs, direct connect, re-IPing of VMs, and geographical locations).

Phase your migration to reduce risk. Document compliance requirements; implement a corresponding security baseline; and automate the set-up of the environment for running secure, scalable workloads to minimise errors.

Boost your cloud environment

Once you’ve completed the first few phases of your migration, look for opportunities to boost your cloud environment. An organisation that is extending or migrating its data centre could evaluate the powerful AWS services that are now available.

Take advantage of direct integrations of AWS and VMware Cloud on AWS, such as leveraging AWS Key Management Service to store VMware Cloud on AWS encryption keys; CloudFront for CDN; application and network load balancer for traffic flow and SSL offload; and RDS and Dynamo DB or managed SQL and NoSQL databases. Meanwhile, an organisation that implements cloud-based DR could leverage underutilised resources for test/dev activities.

Consider VMware Cloud on AWS for business resiliency

Downtime outages don’t choose convenient times for your business or customers. Traditional DR requires considerable capital and effort to build secondary sites, replicate data, proactively test, and staff the environment.

Cloud-based DR offers multiple advantages, including geographic diversity, rapid scale-up using on-demand services, annual DR testing, and DR software that automates and orchestrates rapid recovery for lower recovery time objectives (RTOs) and less risk.

The five types of cloud-based DR (cold standby, pilot light, warm standby, scaleup active-active, and full active-active) provide a spectrum of services, with many choices. VMware Site Recovery, which is built right into VMware Cloud on AWS, is an integrated option that includes needed on-prem components.

Get measurable, repeatable value from your cloud migration with VMware Cloud on AWS and a clear blueprint that advances from proof of concept to AWS native integrations for DR, test/dev, and production workloads. 

Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and sharing their experiences and use-cases? Attend the Cyber Security & Cloud Expo World Series with upcoming events in Silicon Valley, London and Amsterdam to learn more.

The dawn of a new decade represents a good opportunity for a more rounded assessment of cloud computing to take place – and according to industry analyst Synergy Research, the ‘remarkable transformation’ has seen the enterprise data centre hit hardest.

Synergy has kicked off 2020 with a couple of notes looking back at wider enterprise IT spending, as well as the impact of SaaS revenues. As the decade began (below) spending on cloud infrastructure services barely moved the needle; but as data centre hardware and software spend plateaued in the middle half of the decade – only seeing an increase in 2018 – last year’s projections revealed that cloud spending had finally overtaken on-prem.

Over the whole decade, Synergy noted, average annual spending growth for the data centre was 4% – and even the majority of this was due to the first three years of growth. For cloud services, the figure was 56% across the whole decade.

When it came to SaaS revenues, it has been a similar story: annual revenues are now north of $100 million at a growth rate of 39% per year. This compares with a growth in perpetual license software of just 4% per year. Microsoft, the ‘very clear software market leader’ throughout the decade as Synergy puts it, has seen its total software revenues double and SaaS revenue grow from zero to more than $20 million across the decade.

The usual suspects have seen significant growth in terms of organisations moving to SaaS-based models, from customer resource management (CRM) to human capital management (HCM). Yet enterprise resource planning (ERP) is one area which is still somewhat underrepresented, Synergy argues.

As John Dinsdale, a chief analyst at Synergy Research Group, puts it, the emergence of various huge SaaS platforms around enterprise collaboration, from Workday, to Zendesk, to Cloudera, forced the hand of traditional software vendors to push SaaS more strongly.

Analysis

For those who have been involved in the industry over the past decade, the above is by no means new information. Yet it is certainly interesting – and more than a little fun – to look back and assess various growth points and predictions.

At the beginning of the decade SaaS, powered by the explosive growth of Salesforce, was clearly the poster child for cloud computing use cases. Looking at a Gartner market trends report from 2012 focusing on SaaS, as this publication reported at the time, many of their prognostications rang true. Gartner predicted that SaaS-based CRM would grow at three times the rate of on-premise applications, while noting that SaaS-based ERP would take a tougher route to cannibalisation. Each analyst report around the time put SaaS in the biggest bucket, followed by IaaS and then, much lower down, PaaS.

Infrastructure services naturally took a lot longer to earn trust among enterprises and other large organisations. Ovum’s 2013 Trends to Watch report around private and public clouds correctly identified Microsoft and Google as the key pretenders to Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) crown. Gartner’s 2013 Magic Quadrant for IaaS had two leaders; AWS and CSC. The latter merged with HP Enterprise Services in 2017, before Microsoft moved into the leaders’ zone in 2014 and the status quo remained for three years before Google joined the party.

The conversations around public versus private in the first half of the decade were legion. Indeed, exploring an emerging technology, assessing what can be done where and the security concerns are cyclical – take blockchain as a more recent example. Industries with particularly sensitive data concerns were naturally reluctant to move to different infrastructure. It was around the 2013 mark that the first real shoots of hybrid cloud were seen among organisations. A Rackspace study in August of that year found three in five enterprise respondents saw hybrid as the future, with the company affirming that hybrid was ‘enterprise ready’ for CIOs.

As the decade ticked over into its second half, the benefits of multi-cloud became more clearly defined. Assuaging vendor lock-in was one thing, but as the complexity of workloads increased, so did understanding. Some providers will be more efficient than others depending on your organisation’s data needs, be that around backup and disaster recovery, or analytics and insights. As Melissa Di Donato, CEO of SUSE, told this publication just earlier this week, her company’s strategy is to look upon this as a moveable feast.

Ultimately, the maturation and saturation in the cloud software and infrastructure markets in particular – platform may still have a little way to go, although Kubernetes has had an exceptionally strong 24 months – have seen the next wave of cloud services move in. It is all underpinned by data; K8s and containers are a part of that, but so are blockchain and artificial intelligence technologies. The quality and quantity of organisations citing machine learning capability as the primary reason to move mostly or all-in on a hyperscaler – Formula 1, Sainsbury’s and Walt Disney Studios just to name three recent examples – proves that companies are comfortable in the cloud, and want to see what’s next.

It can therefore be seen as a chicken and egg question: to what extent has the past decade been about natural technological advances, and how much has been through vendor strategy? Ultimately, and at risk of this being a cop-out, the answer is a bit of both.

Dinsdale cited ‘dramatic improvements’ in hosting and computational capabilities, leading to increasingly sophisticated enterprise applications and myriad ways of crunching, processing and analysing data both in terms of software and infrastructure. Yet much in the same way that studies show being in a plane is safer than being in a car, enterprises have understood this comparing cloud with on-prem. Breaches still happen, but as this publication has frequently reported, they are often self-inflicted. A lot of hard yards have gone into this from the vendor point of view – and expect this gap to gradually lessen over time.

Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and sharing their experiences and use-cases? Attend the Cyber Security & Cloud Expo World Series with upcoming events in Silicon Valley, London and Amsterdam to learn more.