Veeam Government Solutions: Backup and protection of government mission-critical data

Veeam Software announced the launch of its new, federal government-focused subsidiary, Veeam Government Solutions. Veeam provides a single platform for modernizing backup, accelerating hybrid cloud, and securing data to 400,000+ customers worldwide, including 82% of the Fortune 500 and 60% of the Global 2,000.

Headquartered in Washington D.C. and 100% U.S.-owned and managed, VGS brings a comprehensive portfolio of trusted data protection software solutions that are independently verified and validated by U.S. federal government-trusted, U.S.-based third-party agencies.

Demonstrating its commitment to the protection of the nation’s most valuable data, VGS has a number of critical security and IT certifications, including US Navy DADMS, NIST – 1800-11, SOCOM Approved Products List (APL), Section 508, has been sponsored by DISA and submitted for testing for the DoDIN APL and is working to secure additional certifications important to federal organizations.

Veeam is also excited to announce a DOD ESI Blanket Purchase Agreement with EC America, a subsidiary of immixGroup, an Arrow Electronics company, and has also partnered with CACI, Inc.- Federal to ensure the most secure supply chain possible and provide auditable and traceable processes in line with the President’s May 12, 2021 Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity’s provisions encouraging 3rd Party Verification and Validation of software. VGS offers 24/7 customer support for U.S. federal customers to ensure optimal service and urgency.

As recent ransomware and cyberattacks are highlighting the potential impact of data loss to critical infrastructure, Veeam is strengthening its commitment to deliver Modern Data Protection to the U.S government with additional industry resources. “To help accelerate our federal business, we hired Earl Matthews last summer to develop and lead our VGS team, as well as join the Veeam executive staff,” said Bill Largent, CEO at Veeam.

“An American government official and attorney who has held senior positions within the Department of the Army and at the White House, Earl’s expertise and impressive, extensive background in the public sector will accelerate our ability to reliably serve the current and future Modern Data Protection needs of federal customers during critical times.”

With more than 1,200 government customers, VGS is focused on the backup and protection of mission-critical data for the U.S. Department of Defense, Civilian Agencies, Native American Tribes, the Intelligence Community and Federal System Integrators. Veeam Backup & Replication, the company’s flagship product, provides a single solution for comprehensive data management with software-defined, hardware-agnostic, and cloud-ready solutions to better serve warfighters, veterans, federal workers, and citizens without interruption.

For heightened resiliency, the latest release of this solution (V11) includes bulletproof ransomware protection, increased security, Continuous Data Protection (CDP), greater cloud portability and over 200 new feature enhancements. Veeam provides unmatched protection for sensitive mission data against cyberthreats and ransomware, detecting and automatically responding to triggers in real-time to prevent further infection.

“Always protected and available data keeps the federal government operating,” said Earl Matthews, President of Veeam Government Solutions. “For the past decade, Veeam has delivered innovative data protection and data management solutions to government. We founded VGS to be even more hyper-focused on the highest level of security and nimbler in support of federal agency needs. We’re committed to continually finding better ways to serve the government, solve its biggest data challenges, and protect the information that is a strategic asset for everything government organizations do.”

VGS has appointed its Board of Directors and an independent Advisory Board to support the subsidiary in its operations and strategic decision-making. The VGS Board of Directors includes:

• Nick Ayers, managing partner of Ayers Neugebauer & Co. and member of Veeam Board of Directors: Ayers is one of America’s most in-demand entrepreneurs and public policy and political strategist. He has served in the highest levels of government, including the White House. Nick will provide insight and guidance to align Veeam and VGS strategy with the evolving needs of the federal government.
• Earl Matthews, president at VGS; former senior director for defense policy and strategy on the National Security Council and former acting general counsel of the Army: Matthews leads VGS, ensuring federal agencies can do more with their data and have the confidence that it will always be available. He previously held senior positions within the White House, the Department of Defense and the intelligence community and is a military veteran of combat operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He continues to serve today as a Colonel in the Army National Guard.
• Gil Vega, chief information security officer (CISO) at Veeam: Vega has held various cybersecurity leadership posts within the U.S. Department of Defense, Intelligence Community and in financial services. Vega was a member of the U.S. Federal Government’s Senior Executive Service and served as the associate chief information officer and CISO for the U.S. Department of Energy and as CISO for U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement in Washington, D.C. Vega was recently named 2021 Chief Information Security Officer of the Year as part of the Washington Exec Chief Officer Awards.

Members of the VGS Advisory Board include:

• Harry Coker, owner of Primis Principiis, LLC: Coker is a research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Changing Character of War Centre (CCW) program and has an extensive background in the national security community including as a member of the Biden Presidential Transition Team, a former senior executive at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and former Executive Director of the National Security Agency (NSA).
• Chad Sweet, Co-founder & CEO of the Chertoff Group: Sweet formerly served as the Chief of Staff of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and as an investment banker at the firms of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, as well as served in the CIA’s National Clandestine Service. Sweet is a senior fellow at the GWU Homeland Security Policy Institute and a member of the DHS Secretary’s Homeland Security Advisory Council. With Sweet’s background in both the private and public sector, he will advise VGS on the needs of the homeland security and intelligence communities.
• Lt. General (USAF, ret.) Thomas Trask, president of SO&A Consulting LLC: With 33 years of service in the U.S. Air Force, retiring as the Vice Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, Trask provides deep insight on the Department of Defense’s challenges. He is a Senior Strategist for Navigators Global LLC, a strategic communications firm in Washington, D.C., and a Senior Fellow with the Center of Naval Analysis (CNA). Trask serves on boards for Meta Aerospace, AeroVironment (AV) Inc., Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, AZ, the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) and the Advisory Council for the Global SOF Foundation.

VGS maintains a 100%-channel ecosystem and strategic alliance partnerships, including HPE, Microsoft, VMware, Cisco, NetApp, Pure Storage and Nutanix. VGS is continually expanding partnerships with leading technology and service providers to provide the most comprehensive and complete data protection solutions to mission-driven organizations.

“With today’s growing cybersecurity threats, Veeam Government Solutions’ approach to ransomware and other threats is timely as Veeam provides air-gapped data backup into object storage on hypervisor clouds such as Microsoft Azure, AWS, or IBM. With their Intel, DoD, and Civilian agency experience, Veeam’s Board is well equipped to assess the company’s direction and provide guidance on its strategy of protecting data in government agencies,” said Adelaide O’Brien, research director, IDC Government Insights.

“In three decades of serving in Special Operations, I watched the importance of data analytics increase drastically and is now the most important factor in protecting our nation. This capability is at tremendous risk from cyberattacks, data loss, or data manipulation. VGS has the most reliable, versatile, user-friendly and Modern Data Protection and backup solutions, and provides the backup necessary to make sure we can get back in the fight immediately after a cyber strike,” said Lt. General (USAF, ret.) Thomas Trask, president of SO&A Consulting LLC and member of VGS Advisory Board.

“At VAE, we’re passionate about serving the federal government. That means supporting its stakeholders, from the citizen to the warfighter, with constant data availability. VGS gives our customers dependable, flexible, and easy-to-use backup and recovery. With VGS, we’re confident our customers can always access the data needed to succeed in their missions,” said Matt Deming, Vice President of VAE Inc.