Data protection firm plans huge expansion

Data-related service provider Veeam Software is betting big on the Chinese market, and especially on the opportunities created by the country's big data push as well as reform and opening-up, according to Veeam's top executive.

"Chinese enterprises have greater demands on data storage, protection and cloud technologies as the country pushes forward big data and digital economic transformation, which has brought us great and precious opportunities," said Shi Qin, president of Veeam China.

"China, undoubtedly, has played a crucial role in our global business and is expected to get into a fast-growing period in the coming years," he added.

Shi's comments come as the country calls for accelerated efforts to implement and advance big data strategy in a bid to improve digital infrastructure, promote integration of digital resources including big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence with the real economy.

According to Shi, the company's major business is to provide services that back up and replicate data, helping companies recover lost data and maintain continuity.

The Baar, Switzerland-based company entered the Chinese market just two and a half years ago but has seen rapid development since then. In 2017, its sales volume grew by 60 percent year-on-year in China.

It recently acquired N2WS, a leading provider of backup and disaster recovery for Amazon Web Services (AWS), in an all-cash deal for $42.5 million, to bolster its competitiveness.

"For a company, if a machine stops, even for a minute, the cost is incalculable, not to mention long-term downtime. Thus, data protection and recovery is of great necessity for companies," Shi said.

In China, the company has expanded its businesses in a wide range of areas, especially in the finance and retail sectors. For instance, Veeam is cooperating with Chinese internet giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd on data protection and backup.

"In the finance sector, for example, financial institutions need to deploy solutions to ensure availability faced with an increased risk of cyberattacks, data breaches and unplanned disruptions nowadays," he said.

"This is a new kind of solution that delivers nonstop continuity and a 24X7X365 business," he added.

According to Shi, Veeam is able to recover any data in a maximum of 15 minutes, while common competitors require hours－at least－to accomplish the same goal.

"China's data backup and disaster recovery market is a huge gold field as data security is critical for both the country and companies," said Wu Yuliang, a senior expert in data backup and also a member of the Jiusan Society, an organization that mainly consists of intellectuals from fields including science and technology.

"The sector has great potential and waits to be further explored," he said, adding that the market scale of China's data backup and disaster recovery is expected to be tens of billions of yuan in the future.

Shi noted that the business environment is getting better and better and foreign companies are more welcome in China thanks to the reform and opening-up.

"However, at the same time, the country also has higher expectations for foreign companies to enter the Chinese market and pay more attention to advanced technologies," he said.

To adapt to the changes and growth of the Chinese market, Shi said localization is becoming very crucial and the company is scrambling to transform from "product output" to "service output" here.

In other words, rather than simply selling products, the Swiss company has endeavored to cooperate more with partners from China, providing more technologies and services related to cloud, data protection and replication.

In addition, the company said it will also help Chinese companies moving into overseas markets, especially with the Belt and Road Initiative.