Cohesity and Veritas to Form New Data Security, Management Company

Cohesity and Veritas have announced their definitive agreement to combine Cohesity with Veritas’ data protection businesses, forming a new company offering artificial intelligence (AI)-powered data security and management.

The remaining assets of Veritas, including its InfoScale, Data Compliance and Backup Exec businesses, will form a separate company called DataCo, the companies said in a Thursday (Feb. 8) press release.

This merger aims to provide customers with accelerated innovations enabled by the combined company’s extensive partner ecosystems and enhanced R&D investments, according to the release.

The combined company will address the challenges faced by organizations in protecting critical data assets and gaining insights from data, the release said. With the increasing threat of ransomware and the need for cyber resilience strategies, businesses are seeking comprehensive, multi-cloud data protection solutions. Additionally, the power of generative AI for data-driven insights can unlock new levels of efficiency, innovation and growth.

Cohesity and Veritas will bring together their innovations to offer organizations a powerful, simple user experience and a high-performance, centrally managed platform, the release said. This combination will provide customers with a comprehensive portfolio of data security and data insights solutions.

The new company will have a global go-to-market footprint, serving over 10,000 combined customers, including 96 of the Fortune 100, per the release. It will also have a strong partner ecosystem that includes cloud service providers, security players, value-added resellers (VARs), system integrators and hardware OEMs.

Sanjay Poonen, the president and CEO of Cohesity, will lead the combined organization, while Greg Hughes, the CEO of Veritas, will serve as a board member and strategic adviser, according to the release. Lawrence Wong, currently senior vice president of strategy and products at Veritas, will serve as CEO of DataCo.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2024, subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions, the release said.

With the increasing value of data, today’s data landscape creates both opportunities and vulnerabilities for organizations, Taylor Lowe, CEO and co-founder of AI infrastructure platform Metal, told PYMNTS in an interview posted in January.

“For the last 10 years, the financial sector alone has invested countless sums into data science and building out their data intelligence departments,” Lowe said.