Sanjay Poonen, CEO of Cohesity and seasoned leader from VMware and SAP, dives into the evolving landscape of data protection. He emphasizes the critical need for robust data security in today's digital world. The discussion touches on the shift to cloud-based solutions and the transformative impact of AI on data management. Poonen also shares insights about Cohesity's strategic plans, competition, and the importance of maintaining a customer-focused culture. Tune in for valuable perspectives on securing enterprise data in the age of innovation!
Sanjay Poonan emphasizes the critical need for businesses to implement robust data protection strategies in a digital age to safeguard their assets.
Cohesity's innovative approach, highlighted by its acquisition of Veritas, positions it as a leader in data management and security solutions for cloud environments.
Deep dives
Sanjay Poonan's Background and Career Growth
Sanjay Poonan, the CEO of Cohesity, shares his extensive background in the tech industry, highlighting his previous roles at VMware and SAP where he played a significant part in their growth. These experiences taught him valuable lessons about cloud technology and data security, essential components in his current role. At VMware, he helped grow the company from $6 billion to $12 billion during his tenure, and at SAP, he contributed to the development of key analytics products like HANA. This diverse experience has shaped his growth mindset, which he emphasizes as crucial for leadership and success in the technology sector.
Understanding Data Protection Terminology
Poonan clarifies common terms related to data protection, including data replication, backup, resilience, and security. He explains that while these terms may overlap, they primarily focus on the management and safeguarding of data throughout its lifecycle. The analogy of an iceberg helps to illustrate the difference between primary data, which is actively queried, and secondary data, often archived or backed up for retention. This understanding is vital for organizations to develop effective strategies for protecting their data in an increasingly complex digital landscape.
Cohesity's Innovative Approach and Acquisition of Veritas
Cohesity is recognized for pioneering a new approach to data protection by combining compute and storage in a hyperconverged architecture, optimized for both on-premise and cloud environments. Poonan discusses the strategic acquisition of Veritas, which positions Cohesity as a market leader with a significant share and extensive technological expertise. This $7.5 billion deal is seen as a game-changer, enhancing their capabilities and allowing them to offer comprehensive solutions that integrate advanced data management with security. As a result, the new entity has access to a wider customer base, including major enterprises, with ambitious goals for revenue growth and innovation in data protection.
Future Growth Opportunities Amidst Market Trends
Looking ahead, Poonan identifies significant growth opportunities in the evolving fields of cloud security and AI technology application within data protection. He anticipates that the market for data management and protection will continue to grow, particularly as enterprises transition to hybrid and multi-cloud strategies. Cohesity aims to leverage advanced security tools and AI insights, enhancing their offerings and addressing emerging challenges in data management. By focusing on enterprise customers and strengthening their technology partnerships, Cohesity intends to capture a larger market share while remaining committed to customer satisfaction and innovation.
Modern-day businesses are increasingly digital and data dependent, and organizations need to critically monitor their data assets, protect them against external threats and create guardrails around access. They also need to have robust mechanisms and tools that allow them to back up, preserve and reconstruct applications in case of a disruption, and this creates an opening for platforms like Cohesity that provide data-security and management products. In this episode of the Tech Disruptors podcast, Cohesity CEO Sanjay Poonen joins Sunil Rajgopal, BI’s senior software analyst, to discuss the data replication, protection and security landscape, the opportunity from the shift to the cloud and AI-led implications for the market. They also talk about Cohesity’s scale ambitions, competition and product road map. This episode was recorded on Dec. 17.
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