On April 2nd, we held our Immutability for Everyone launch event, and it was EPIC! There were Ootbi (Out-of-the-Box Immutability) Plushies, and I got to interview ESG’s Simon Robinson about the state of data protection, ransomware, and immutability. Our CEO, David Bennett, talked us through all the latest product announcements while Object First founder Ratmir Timashev discussed his vision for “Best Storage for Veeam.” It was a fun event to be a part of, and for those who haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, we’ve summarized the highlights in a convenient blog format.
The Latest Data Protection Research
After we gave out some plushies, we dove right into a discussion all about the state of data protection today with Enterprise Strategy Group’s (ESG) Analyst Simon Robinson. He talked us through research that Object First and ESG had just released. Simon told us that 81% of IT professionals say immutable backup storage built on Zero Trust principles is the best defense against ransomware, and 54% view target backup appliances as more secure than integrated appliances.
“According to the research, almost every organization (96%) that has experienced a ransomware attack in the past two years said that their backup data has been targeted at least once,” said Simon Robinson. “This underscores the urgent need to prioritize data resilience by adopting robust, Zero Trust backup storage solutions with true immutability to defend against evolving threats.”
Simon gave us a lot of great (and terrifying) information that every backup admin needs to know. Fortunately for Veeam users, Object First has been cooking up some new ways to help swing those stats in the right direction. David Bennett was the one to talk everyone through exactly what we are up to.
New Announcements
David started with new announcements directly related to feedback from customers and partners over the last year, beginning with the expansion of Object First’s product line. We are now enabling more organizations—from small businesses to large enterprises—to ransomware-proof their operations in new ways, including more use cases, more performance, and more value.
More Use Cases
Object First now offers smaller Ootbi (Out-of-the-Box Immutability) appliances with 20 TB and 40 TB capacities and the largest to date—a 432 TB appliance that can scale up to 1.7 PB in a 4-node cluster. For customers needing even more capacity, Ootbi environments can expand beyond 7 PB of immutable storage when integrated with a Veeam Scale-Out Backup Repository (SOBR).
More Performance
Alongside new hardware comes increased performance. The latest firmware version is even more optimized for backup, yielding 10-20% faster Veeam ingest and restore speeds for all new Ootbi appliances. The 432 TB model has doubled data ingest speed, up to 8 GB/s on a four-node cluster.
More Value
Existing customers can fully take advantage of these latest announcements, as new and existing hardware can always be mixed and matched regardless of purchase date.
“Every business of any size needs access to backup storage with true immutability as the last line of defense against ransomware,” David said. “Our new Ootbi models give customers tremendous flexibility to mix and match the appliances that make the most sense for their use case while also delivering increased performance in both data ingest and recovery speeds for greater data resilience.”
A Word from our Founder
We finished the event with one of our co-founders, Ratmir Timashev, who started by saying, “Object First was started by me and my partner, Andrei Baranov, a few years ago with an idea to build the best, most secure storage appliance for Veeam using object storage technology. Object storage is an ideal cloud data technology for backup because of its scalability, reliability, simplicity, low cost for large volumes of unstructured data, and, most importantly, it is inherently immutable. That is why our company is called Object First when you think about Veeam backup. Think about object storage first.”
True Immutability
He also discussed a new concept that Object First is releasing into the data security industry called True Immutability. This concept seeks to define what is required for immutable backup storage to be genuinely ransomware-proof. Keep an eye on our website for the whitepaper, which will be released soon.
Closing Thoughts
We closed out with me asking David for a key takeaway from the event. He said, “It’s simple. Ransomware poses an existential threat to Veeam customers, and immutable storage is your best defense. With Object First, immutability is now secure, simple, and powerful FOR EVERYONE, from small businesses to large enterprises.Look for our next big Ootbi announcement—April 21st at VeeamON—for all the latest news on how we will offer more flexibility in how you purchase Ootbi.”
While I can only echo David’s closing thoughts and encourage everyone to keep their eyes on Object First at VeeamON, I want to close this blog with my own takeaway.
As I approach the end of my third year at Object First, I have seen us grow from a small startup without a product name to a tour de force business that truly delivers on the promise of “Best Storage for Veeam.” We have helped so many of our customers ensure their backup storage is truly immutable, and Ootbi has, unfortunately, had to be the last line of defense against ransomware attacks. Thankfully, it has saved those businesses from paying the ransom, allowing them to return to normalcy.
This event represents our next step in helping more businesses of all sizes stay resilient in the face of a ceaseless crisis that continues to become more invasive and volatile every day. I’m genuinely excited for us to continue to grow and bring our ransomware-proof immutable backup storage to everyone. Missed the launch? We’ve got you covered! Watch the live recording on YouTube.
