Exclusive: Cohesity reveals three pillars driving its success

In an enlightening interview with James Blake, Global Head of Cyber Resiliency Strategy at Cohesity, TechDay looked into the intricacies of the company's operations and strategic focus.

With a history spanning over a decade, Cohesity has evolved to address the pressing needs of both data resilience and cybersecurity in what is a rapidly changing technological landscape.

Pillars of Success

"Cohesity is all about data resilience and gaining insights from data," Blake began. "We have three main pillars: traditional business continuity and disaster recovery, cyber resiliency, and AI-driven insights."

He emphasized the importance of unifying backup and management across various platforms, whether cloud, on-premises, virtual, or container-based. "These three pillars - AI insights, cyber resiliency, and data resiliency—are highly interrelated and can be driven from the same platform," he added.

Cybersecurity Focus

Blake emphasized the critical role of cybersecurity in Cohesity’s strategy. "Destructive cyber attacks are the biggest driver for our customers. The disconnect between IT and security in addressing these threats is a major issue. IT operations typically drive business continuity efforts, but these traditional strategies don’t work well against cyber attacks. Recovering from the last backup without understanding the attack leaves vulnerabilities unaddressed."

He stressed the importance of a unified approach. "Security needs to investigate incidents to inform IT on how to mitigate threats. This collaboration is often missing, leading to repeated attacks. Cohesity’s platform facilitates this by enabling quick setup of trusted environments for incident investigation and mitigation."

Data Hawk: A Key Solution

A standout solution from Cohesity is Data Hawk, which combines several capabilities. "Data Hawk includes Fort Knox vaulting for isolated data storage, hunting for indicators of compromise, and data classification to meet regulatory requirements. It provides a secure, isolated environment for incident response, ensuring that organisations can manage incidents effectively."

Blake explained how Data Hawk addresses key challenges. "By isolating data and providing tools for forensics and classification, we help organisations quickly recover and secure their data. This approach is crucial in today’s threat landscape."

Unified Data Management

Blake elaborated on the integration of these pillars, highlighting the seamless synergy between them. "Traditional disaster recovery and business continuity now require managing the diaspora of data across different services. Once this data is centralized in a secure, normalized, and efficient platform, it becomes easier to apply data security measures. This foundation supports both cyber resiliency and AI model application in a secure manner."

Cohesity, headquartered in Silicon Valley, operates globally with a significant presence in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, and beyond.

The company’s acquisition of Veritas is set to expand its footprint further. "Veritas has offices all over the globe, enhancing our capabilities and reach," Blake noted.

Addressing Market Needs

Blake also delved into the industry niches Cohesity excels in.

"We serve a broad range of verticals, including manufacturing, telco, financial services, healthcare, government, and nonprofit. Our solutions are ubiquitous, but we are particularly critical for sectors facing high cyber threats, such as healthcare, manufacturing, and government."

He highlighted the importance of security in all customer interactions. "Security is the biggest concern for our customers, driving the adoption of our solutions. We help them develop robust resiliency plans, ensuring they are prepared for any cyber threats."

Blake underscored Cohesity’s commitment to innovation and security.

"Our goal is to stay ahead of trends and provide solutions that address the most pressing challenges. With our integrated platform and focus on data resilience, we’re well-equipped to support our customers in an increasingly complex digital landscape."

Growth and Evolution

Reflecting on Cohesity’s growth, Blake mentioned the company’s 11-year journey. "We’ve tracked and adapted to major trends over the years—cloud migration, cybersecurity with the rise of ransomware, and now AI. Our founders, many of whom are ex-Google employees, brought expertise in building hyper-scaled storage platforms, which has been pivotal to our development."

The company has seen substantial growth, driven by its ability to address evolving challenges. "Our primary adoption drivers have shifted from business continuity and disaster recovery to addressing cyber attacks, particularly ransomware and wipers. These cyber threats are now a major concern, replacing traditional issues like floods, fires, and misconfigurations."

Global Operations and Hybrid Working

Cohesity operates with a flexible hybrid working model. "We’ve always been a remote-focused company, making the transition during COVID-19 smooth," Blake shared. "Our collaborative tools and culture have enabled us to maintain productivity and connectivity across our global teams."

Despite the challenges of hybrid working, Cohesity has managed to sustain strong internal communication and collaboration. "I probably collaborate more with my coworkers now, thanks to our robust communication infrastructure. This has been vital for our ongoing success," Blake noted.