Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), a titan in the enterprise technology industry, made headlines in 2021 by acquiring Zerto, a trailblazer in cloud data management and protection. This merger demonstrated HPE’s forward-thinking approach and underscored Zerto’s significance in providing critical protection to organisations against the pervasive threat of ransomware.
In this blog, I will be dissecting why this acquisition was a smart move for HPE and how Zerto’s products are helping to fortify organisations against the relentless onslaught of ransomware attacks.
Added Reading: Ransomware attacks can have devastating consequences for your business. Read our list of the top 5 ransomware attack examples to find out more.
HPE’s Strategic Acquisition of Zerto
HPE’s decision to acquire Zerto was primarily driven by the accelerating digital transformation of businesses and the escalating menace of cyber threats, especially ransomware. There was a 78% increase of ransomware attacks against organisations between 2020 and 2021 alone.1
HPE, through its GreenLake edge-to-cloud platform, has been on a quest to simplify hybrid cloud experiences for its customers. However, HPE needed a robust, versatile, comprehensive data management and protection solution to enhance this service. Zerto, a leader in the data protection sphere with its award-winning IT Resilience Platform, perfectly fit the bill.
Zerto’s distinctiveness lies in its capability to deliver both disaster recovery and data backup in a single, simplified platform using continuous data protection (CDP). This platform works across on-premise, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments, offering unprecedented flexibility and resilience. Incorporating Zerto into the HPE GreenLake platform significantly enhances HPE’s capacity to protect customers’ digital assets, amplifying its competitive advantage in the market.
Benefits for HPE Customers
Integrating Zerto’s technology into HPE’s offerings has brought about several critical benefits for HPE customers.
Comprehensive data protection
Customers now have access to a seamless data protection solution that spans their entire digital infrastructure, irrespective of its complexity or heterogeneity. With Zerto, users can rapidly recover data or applications lost for any reason, from mundane system failures to devastating ransomware attacks.
Reduced downtime and overhead
Zerto’s real-time data replication and granular recovery points allow businesses to restore their operations within minutes, substantially reducing downtime and associated costs. The result is increased operational efficiency, business continuity, and, most importantly, customer trust.
Enhanced reporting and visibility
Finally, Zerto’s sophisticated analytics provide insightful reports and visibility into the protected environments, aiding in optimising resource allocation and planning disaster recovery strategies. This level of understanding and control empowers businesses to mitigate potential threats proactively and ensure maximum uptime.
Zerto: A Safeguard Against Ransomware
The prevalence of ransomware has skyrocketed in recent years, holding data hostage and causing substantial financial and reputational damage. Organisations need robust, proactive measures to counteract these threats, and Zerto’s platform perfectly suits this task.
Zerto’s IT Resilience Platform uses CDP technology to continuously record and replicate data, enabling swift recovery during a ransomware attack. Notably, Zerto’s Journal-based recovery can restore systems to a point in time just seconds before the attack, minimising data loss and system downtime.
Additionally, Zerto’s anomaly detection capabilities are crucial in combating ransomware. By continuously monitoring data for irregularities, Zerto can flag potential ransomware intrusions before they have a chance to cause significant damage, allowing IT teams to isolate affected systems and prevent the spread of the ransomware.
Furthermore, Zerto’s automated workflows rapidly respond to threats, drastically reducing recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs). The quicker an organisation can bounce back from an attack, the less likely they are to pay the ransom, thereby reducing the profitability of ransomware for cybercriminals.
Added Reading: We at Nexstor regularly assess data protection solutions to help you decide on the best one for your organisation. Start by reading our comparison of Zerto and Cohesity.
The acquisition of Zerto by HPE has brought together two powerhouses of the tech industry, delivering robust, flexible, and comprehensive data protection solutions for organisations. Zerto’s unique capabilities have bolstered HPE GreenLake’s value proposition, making it a compelling choice for businesses seeking a secure and efficient path to digital transformation.
As ransomware continues to plague the digital world, solutions like Zerto’s IT Resilience Platform are proving invaluable. By leveraging continuous data protection, anomaly detection, and automated recovery workflows, Zerto offers organisations a powerful defence mechanism against ransomware.
HPE is committed to safeguarding its customers’ digital assets through this strategic acquisition, reinforcing its reputation as a reliable and progressive tech partner. Meanwhile, Zerto’s technology continues to fortify organisations against the rising tide of cyber threats, demonstrating that resilience is possible even in the face of escalating cyber risks.
In the ever-evolving landscape of digital threats, Zerto, under the auspices of HPE, stands as a beacon of assurance for organisations. This partnership has enhanced both companies’ capacities and created a formidable line of defence for businesses against the constant and imminent threats in the cyber realm.
Overall, the HPE-Zerto alliance presents a compelling case for how strategic acquisitions can create synergies that deliver real customer value while simultaneously reshaping industry dynamics. As we continue to navigate the age of digital transformation, such partnerships offer a promising pathway towards a future where businesses can operate securely and confidently in the digital sphere.
At Nexstor, we are committed to providing organisations with bespoke data protection solutions. As a trusted HPE partner with leading expertise on a wide range of vendors, we can help develop the right data protection infrastructure suited to your needs and requirements.
Get in touch today to find out how we can help your business.