Recent years have seen an increasing number of mergers and acquisitions between technology and cybersecurity organizations, a trend that is not likely to end soon. Information technology company Veeam recently announced the acquisition of Securiti AI, a $1.725 billion deal representing a major step forward for enterprise data management. The acquisition comes as the latest move in Veeam’s broader evolution beyond traditional backup and recovery.
From Backup to Business Data Control
Veeam’s previously existing functionality consists of backup and replication capabilities to serve as data protection and solutions for disaster recovery in the case of data security incidents. The company’s technology “creates image-based backups of workloads across virtual machines, physical systems, and cloud environments,” enabling rapid replication and recovery of data.
Securiti AI’s Data Command Center, which provides unified intelligence across hybrid and multicloud environments, expands Veeam’s reach from IT operations to business data visibility. Securiti AI’s CEO Rehan Jalil will take on a new role at Veeam as president of security and AI, transferring his existing expertise and experience to support Veeam. The acquisition will contribute to the unification of resilience, security, and governance under one roof.
Industry Context: A Converging Battlefield
This acquisition is part of a major industry trend toward consolidation of functionality. Recent high-profile deals like Rubrik’s acquisition of Laminar and similar DSPM integrations by Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike, and SentinelOne all point toward the same general goals. Data continues to grow rapidly, and organizations are increasingly turning to these acquisitions to improve visibility and control of their data for compliance, resilience, and security.
There is a growing overlap between data management vendors and cybersecurity companies, bolstered by these acquisitions. From both the infrastructure and the intelligence side, the new race is to “own the data,” allowing organizations to bridge the gap between different areas of data management and security. This helps organizations address data security challenges and ensure that as many pieces of the puzzle as possible are under their control.
Strategic Implications for AI and Trust
The acquisition of Securiti positions Veeam to support AI trust, compliance, and privacy at scale by integrating technology for unified visibility and management. With AI implementation continuing to gain popularity, the integration of data security and resilience capabilities is more important than ever. AI governance is on the rise as a new frontier for enterprise data platforms as organizations increasingly incorporate AI tools and capabilities.
“The Veeam plus Securiti AI combination also underpins secure AI deployments and should help businesses securely move faster. Enterprises are embracing GenAI but need to do so safely,” according to Todd Thiemann, principal analyst at Omdia. The integration of Securiti’s capabilities “helps enable safe deployment of AI and avoids the possibility of having sensitive data leak through that GenAI infrastructure.”
Futurum’s recent research provides insights into deployment preferences for DSPM, in line with Veeam’s strategic acquisition of Securiti. Organizations are split on their implementation of DSPM: the largest proportion (42%) deploy DSPM as part of data protection, while 34% deploy it as part of cloud security. In either case, organizations are choosing to integrate DSPM into other operations in the course of deployment.
Challenges and Execution Risks
While the acquisition of Securiti is a strategic move for Veeam, it also presents some obstacles that the company must overcome in order to ensure smooth integration. Veeam’s channel-first model clashes with Securiti’s enterprise sales motion, creating a dissonance that must be accounted for moving forward. There are technical integration hurdles between Veeam’s backup infrastructure and Securiti’s live data architecture. Veeam also runs the risk of meeting market skepticism among CISOs and data officers in response to the acquisition and integration.
Looking Ahead: Defining the Future of Data Trust
This acquisition positions Veeam to advance its capabilities and potentially meet competitors with improved capabilities. As part of a broader trend of mergers and acquisitions, this deal could have ripple effects and help to inspire other deals in the industry. The next wave of consolidation between cybersecurity and data management is likely to see the integration of more sophisticated capabilities, including AI security and governance. “Data trust platforms” are an emerging category at the intersection of resilience, governance, and AI ethics.
