VeeamON Community Highlights VeeamON is like the World Cup of data protection—an annual event packed with new announcements and technical innovations.
While a slew of blogs will be written on these announcements and Veeam’s future plans, I wanted to focus instead on the human side of this fantastic conference. Many data protection experts find themselves working from home in the post-COVID world. Although modern technology has enabled people to collaborate across continents and time zones, nothing can replace the magic of face-to-face interactions.
My nametag for the conference.
Noteworthy Speakers and Their Insights
Both Object First and Veeam have grown strong IT communities, and the presence of so many Veeam Legends, Vanguards, and Object First Aces at the event showcased that support. To further celebrate this community spirit, Veeam hosted a special “Veeam 100” evening event where members were treated to dinner, drinks, and four engaging technical talks by fellow community members:
Jim Jones: Architecting VB365 v8 At Scale
Luciano Patrao: How to migrate to Proxmox Cluster Hypervisor using Veeam
Geoff Burke: Veeam Kubernetes Application Aware Data Protection with Kasten
Maurice Kevenaar and Jonah May: REST APIs and PowerShell 101
I also had the opportunity to collaborate with our Object First Ace, Maurice Kevenaar, during a session on Wednesday, making this truly a working trip.
Community Engagement at VeeamOn
Maurice Kevenaar and me standing beside a VeeamOn banner.
Signage for the Speaker Room: Monday to Wednesday.
On the conference floor, things were busy. Object First Aces roamed the venue, and they were happily awarded the much sought after Ootbi plushie for their evangelical efforts.
Anthony Cusimano and Ace Karrine Bessete holding an Ootbi plushie.
As I wandered the conference, and later at some of the social events, I reencountered an old friend in numerous locations.
Ootbi watching the crowd.
Ootbi watching the seals.
Ootbi in the old town.
Conference attendees passing under an iconic San Diego surfboard sign.
Of course, the event wasn't all work. Veeam consistently chooses fascinating locations for its gatherings, and San Diego did not disappoint. From tacos to strolls downtown and beautiful views at Sunset Cliffs, this was an experience none of us will forget.
Views from the Sunset Cliffs.
In front of the Midway Museum with Object First Aces: Scott Patterson, Luis Freixas, Nico Stein, and Jos Maliepaard.
Everything in San Diego was Crazy Good as the sign says!
New Product Integrations and Partnerships
On the technical side, here are the announcements that excited me the most:
Anthropic's Model Context Protocol (MCP) Integration
MCP is taking the AI world by storm effectively allowing AI agents to use and communicate with other LLMs. Veeam has infused MCP into its Data Cloud for Microsoft Entra ID, enabling AI agents to query backup repositories for compliance and discovery.
Veeam Data Cloud for Salesforce
Another expansion into the identity backup world: Veeam has introduced Veeam Data Cloud for Salesforce. Backing up your Salesforce information to the cloud is always a good idea. This new product safely stores user data and credentials, helping organizations keep their identity secure and protect against potential threats.
CrowdStrike Partnerships
CrowdStrike has partnered with Veeam to create two new integrations: the Veeam App for CrowdStrike Falcon LogScale and the Veeam Data Connector for CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM. These integrations give organizations the ability to detect security threats more easily.
With this partnership, users can view Veeam data events within the CrowdStrike Falcon platform, helping IT and security teams to quickly notice and respond to cyber incidents.
Veeam continues to simplify security monitoring, reducing the complexities and learning curves associated with it.
Sometimes in life, you have to take the helm. I hope they had a solid Disaster Recovery plan in place when I was at the wheel!
As always, VeeamON comes and goes quickly, leaving us to wonder where and when it will take place next year.
