Why the Cohesity & Veritas Merger Will Kick-Start Other Big Moves in the Market
This week’s completion of the big merger between two of the major players in the backup and recovery space, Cohesity and Veritas, has sparked debate. Advocates argue that this move will accelerate innovation and deliver greater value to customers. Critics, on the other hand, foresee financial and organisational challenges leading to customer disruption as product portfolios are inevitably streamlined.
The truth lies somewhere in between. In the short term, legal and financial hurdles will delay noticeable market changes. And yes, customer impact will vary. Some will enjoy competitive pricing, new features, and faster innovation. Others, however, will face the expense and disruption of transitioning to alternative backup solutions.
Yet, this shake-up is ultimately necessary. The backup market has long been in need of transformation, and this merger is likely to be the catalyst.
Why Does the Backup Market Need to Change?
The backup and recovery market is overly fragmented and complex, leaving customers frustrated. With a mix of long established vendors (e.g. IBM, HPE, Dell, Veritas, and Commvault) and newer cloud-native players like Druva, Rubrik, and Cohesity, there’s no single solution that fully meets diverse organisational needs.
Instead of competition driving value, the market forces buyers into lengthy and costly evaluations to identify the right combination of products. Many organisations bring in large consultancy firms for advice, further adding to the expense. Yet, even after all the due diligence, implementation often reveals gaps between expectations and reality, leaving buyers feeling let down, exposed, and significantly out of pocket.
Why More Mergers and Acquisitions Will Follow
This merger positions Cohesity and Veritas to deliver a more comprehensive solution. Other vendors now face a choice: either remain specialised and force customers to integrate multiple products, or combine forces to offer a unified proposition. Those who choose to go it alone may find it increasingly difficult to compete with the simplicity of a ‘one stop shop’ model.
While another merger of this scale may not happen immediately, we expect to see a wave of smaller mergers and acquisitions in the near future. These moves will likely blur the lines between backup, recovery, and security, as vendors aim to offer integrated platforms addressing multiple organisational challenges.
Good to Know
Whether you are already a Predatar customer, or you’re exploring recovery assurance solutions, it’s worth knowing that Predatar supports multiple backup and recovery technologies.
With all the twists and turns that are coming in the market, you can’t be certain which backup and storage products you’ll be using tomorrow, but you can have confidence that your recovery will be assured with Predatar.
