Veeam Appoints New CTO and Acquires Alcion to Boost AI-Focused Data Protection

Veeam, the #1 Data Resilience Company, Appoints Niraj Tolia as Chief Technology Officer to Accelerate Innovation of Data Resilience as a Service

Niraj Tolia joins Veeam following the acquisition of Alcion, a security-first AI-driven data management startup Veeam® Software, the #1 leader by market share in Data Resilience, is excited to announce the appointment of Niraj Tolia as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Tolia joins Veeam following the acquisition of Alcion, a security-first, AI-driven data management startup he co-founded with Vaibhav Kamra. The co-founders, along with the Alcion team, bring a unique blend of technical acumen and deep familiarity with Veeam's culture and vision. In his new role, Tolia will spearhead the product strategy and engineering efforts for the Veeam Data Cloud (VDC), which expands Veeam's industry-leading data resilience solutions into a powerful, flexible suite of services. Working closely with Anton Gostev, Veeam's Chief Product Officer, Tolia will ensure customers continue to benefit from Veeam's unrivalled innovation in data resilience. Alcion's team will join Veeam immediately. "Niraj is one of those rare individuals who not only understands where the market is headed but also possesses the skills and vision to bring that future to life for our customers," said Anand Eswaran, CEO at Veeam. "He has already demonstrated this with the creation of Kasten, which has become the #1 solution for Kubernetes data resilience since being acquired by Veeam in 2020. His proven track record, combined with the explosive growth of Veeam Data Cloud - the fastest growing product in Veeam's history - creates a tremendous opportunity for Veeam to redefine the market once again for data resilience." Tolia is uniquely positioned for success at Veeam, having already built an industry-leading solution in Kasten. As co-founders of both Kasten and Alcion, Tolia and Kamra's combined expertise in data management and cloud-native technologies, coupled with a deep understanding of Veeam's strategic direction and culture, will be invaluable in driving innovation forward. "Everything starts with the customer," said Niraj Tolia. "In our digital world, protecting data and ensuring its resilience against threats and outages is more critical than ever. Combining Alcion's AI and security capabilities with the robust power of Veeam Data Cloud gives us an extraordinary opportunity to enhance our solutions and reinforce Veeam's leadership in Data Resilience." A serial entrepreneur, Tolia previously founded Kasten and served as the General Manager of the Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes business unit. Before founding Kasten, Tolia led product development at Maginatics, a startup acquired by Dell EMC's Data Protection Group. Tolia holds a Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. in Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Join Tolia, Gostev, and other leaders at VeeamON Data Resilience Summit, taking place virtually on October 1 in EMEA and the Americas and October 2 in Asia. Event attendees will discover how organizations of all sizes can ensure their data remains secure, protected, and accessible. Register now for free: https://www.veeam.com/veeamon-data-resilience-summit. About Veeam Software Veeam®, the #1 global market leader in data resilience, believes every business should be able to bounce forward after a disruption with the confidence and control of all their data whenever and wherever they need it. Veeam calls this radical resilience, and we're obsessed with creating innovative ways to help our customers achieve it. Veeam solutions are purpose-built for powering data resilience by providing data backup, data recovery, data freedom, data security, and data intelligence. With Veeam, IT and security leaders rest easy knowing that their apps and data are protected and always available across their cloud, virtual, physical, SaaS, and Kubernetes environments. Headquartered in Seattle with offices in more than 30 countries, Veeam protects over 550,000 customers worldwide, including 74% of the Global 2000, that trust Veeam to keep their businesses running. Radical resilience starts with Veeam. Learn more at www.veeam.com or follow Veeam on LinkedIn @veeam-software and X @veeam.

Veeam Acquires Alcion, Names Startup's CEO Its New CTO

'Remember, I've been a part of Veeam in the past through [its] previous acquisition [of Kasten]. So when Veeam reached out, we knew the company, we knew the culture, we knew how we fit in. Internally, we've told the team this is a milestone for us on the journey for what we care about,' new Veeam CTO Niraj Tolia tells CRN. Data protection software developer Veeam Software Wednesday said it has acquired a data management and protection startup and, in the process, brought back a previous employee to become its new CTO. Veeam acquired Alcion, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based developer of AI-based technology combining data protection and security as a single integrated offering. The two companies have had a long relationship, with Veeam an investor in Alcion's seed funding as well as the lead investor in Alcion's $21 million Series A funding round, which closed last fall. Furthermore, Alcion's two co-founders, CEO Niraj Tolia and CTO Vaibhav Karma, also co-founded Kasten, which developed Kubernetes-native container backup and data protection technologies. Kasten, in turn, was acquired by Veeam, one of the original pioneers in the protection of cloud and virtual machine data, in 2020. [Related: Alcion Exits Stealth As 'Modern AI-Driven Company' Focused On Data Protection, Security, CEO Says] Veeam declined to discuss the financial details of the acquisition, including whether Alcion had become cash-flow-positive. Tolia told CRN that the company was in growth mode and that it already has customers and MSP partners. With the acquisition, Tolia returns to Veeam as the company's new CTO. The company has had an interim CTO since the January departure of Danny Allen. While Veeam and Alcion are focused on data protection, the two companies' technologies complement each other, said Brandt Urban, senior vice president of worldwide cloud sales at Seattle-based Veeam. Veeam has had great momentum with its Veeam Data Cloud, which provides data resilience for Microsoft 365 and Azure workloads, and Alcion will only accelerate that momentum, Urban told CRN. "There's been overwhelming response from customers that they want Veeam capabilities delivered as a service," he said. "And I think Alcion brings a ton of cloud expertise in cloud-native application design and using that to accelerate our innovation is going to be fantastic. I'm really excited about the Alcion team bringing their design language and their automation capabilities to take us to that next tier with Veeam Data Cloud and being able to add new capabilities to our existing offerings and more quickly get new applications into Veeam Data Cloud." Being acquired by Veeam was a great opportunity for Alcion, Tolia said. "Remember, I've been a part of Veeam in the past through a previous acquisition," he said. "So when Veeam reached out, we knew the company, we knew the culture, we knew how we fit in. Internally, we've told the team this is a milestone for us on the journey for what we care about. The previous two products I built in different companies, including things I did 10-plus years ago, are still shipping. I believe in building lasting businesses and technology." Veeam is where Tolia said he plans to stay. "I'm a pragmatic person," he said. "I don't have IPO fever. I don't have acquisition fever. This is about staying for the things I care about, data protection. I've worked on it since my grad school days. I care about the impact we make on customers. I care about the problems I can solve for people. And this was a very clear path to say, 'How do we increase our impact on our customers by orders of magnitude in a very quick manner?'" The acquisition of Alcion is a great move for Veeam and shows just how much the company has matured under CEO Anand Eswaran, said Tom May, CEO of Different Dev, a professional services company focused exclusively on Veeam environments. "I know that Veeam is setting its sights on kind of that next level, and I know a lot of it is AI-based," May told CRN. In addition to the technology Veeam gets with Alcion, it also gets a good CTO with a startup mentality, May said. "[Tolia is] bringing his team with him, and he's already brought two big products to market," he said. "This will be good. Alcion has a focus on AI, and I know Veeam is really focusing on AI. When we were at this year's VeeamON conference, they were talking about and demoing AI in the console and different things. Well, now they're strategically picking up a company that I'm not too familiar with but which has backup tech and which can bring AI intelligence into the Veeam Suite."