Navigating the VMware Transition with Microsoft and Veeam
This partner-focused discussion addresses the industry shift following VMware's acquisition and changing licensing models. Andy Sterniolo from Veeam and Demetrius from Microsoft's Azure Storage product marketing team explore how partners can guide customers through hypervisor decisions while maintaining data protection consistency. The conversation emphasizes that partners are hearing three consistent themes from customers: pressure from new licensing models, uncertainty around vendor roadmaps, and questions about diversifying virtualization strategies. The Microsoft-Veeam partnership positions partners as strategic advisors rather than just implementers, offering flexibility across VMware, Hyper-V, Azure Local, AVS, and Azure Native platforms without vendor lock-in.
Building Resilience Across Hybrid Environments
The partnership delivers a comprehensive resilience story that partners can present to customers and boards. Microsoft provides the security foundation through Zero Trust architecture, Defender for Cloud, and Azure's secure infrastructure, while Veeam ensures consistent backup and recovery across diverse workloads including VMware, Hyper-V, physical systems, cloud, and Kubernetes. Azure Storage offers immutable, isolated backups, and Veeam orchestrates clean recovery when ransomware strikes—a critical capability given that over half of organizations face ransomware threats. Partners can standardize on one resilience architecture even as customer environments evolve, providing predictable workflows and easier service scaling. The key differentiator is consistency: Microsoft delivers platform consistency while Veeam provides protection consistency across all Microsoft platforms.
