Commvault, Huawei to build R&D lab in China

by Abhinav Mohapatra

Commvault that provides data management software applications has collaborated with telecommunications solution provider Huawei to set up a joint innovation lab in Chengdu, China. The deal will see both the companies combine personnel, hardware and software resources for building the research and development lab along with an executive briefing center. The repository is said to house developments on data backup, recovery, archive and cloud solutions based on technologies offered by both. The companies closing on Chengdu, as the base for the lab, is a subsequent step considering it is also the headquarters of Huawei’s storage business. Both the companies claim that the collaboration will see an integration of tech to incubate, test and demonstrate cloud backup, Data Protection-as-a-Service and other innovative solutions. This could potentially extend Commvault’s ability to address customer concerns on data protection and aid Huawei, grow its information pool on data storage and management. Ruigi Fan, President, Storage Production Line, Huawei, said, “Over the last few years Commvault and Huawei joint backup solution has been very successful and we are very pleased to announce the establishment of the joint lab.”
This represents a significant milestone on the path towards even closer collaboration. This lab will function as a platform for our continuous joint innovation, incubating Data Protection as a Service and data management solutions.
Tracing the chronology, Commvault and Huawei last came together as a team when Brennan IT, a managed services provider, used Commvault’s Software and OceansStor by Huawei to deliver a Backup-as-a-Service solution to its customers in Australia. This was after Huawei’s decision to join hands with Commvault and distribute its software with OceanStor data storage systems. Earlier, in September 2015, both the companies had also signed a global alliance agreement to research serviceability of cloud environments in data center (DC) backup solutions. And the current deal only seems to foster the relationship between both. Ron Miiller, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales, Commvault, stated, “We’ve been very impressed with Huawei’s advanced storage technology, strong customer relationships and global footprint as we have expanded Commvault’s presence in both China and around the world over the past five years. This new lab further strengthens the Commvault-Huawei partnership by helping us develop new solutions that maximize the value of our customers’ data management and storage investments.” The news comes at an arguably significant time when data vendors in the APAC region are looking at consolidating and managing business-critical data from a security stand point. Seemingly, compliance of local and labor laws will also play a critical role in ensuring data recovery. However, it will be interesting to see how the avenue will pick on Chinese brains. Commvault (re) tweeted to confirm: