Another One Bites The Dust

The CDP consolidation continues! It was announced today that Symantec, who acquired Veritas some time back, has acquired the assets and intellectual property of Revivio. This is totally predictable. Symantec/Veritas was one of the few major backup software vendors without a decent CDP feature and Revivio was struggling to stay alive. Revivio's investors get something, Symantec gets a key feature.


This is all part of the ongoing absorption of VTL and CDP players into the portfolios of larger technology companies. Just recently we saw Avamar picked up by EMC and XOSoft plucked by CA. This absorption was inevitable. CDP and VTL are both features, not products. The do not change the data protection model so much as extend it and give it a new performance envelope. They are in no way disruptive in the way SANs were to storage and data protection.

There are now precious few independent CDP companies left. Timespring comes to mind plus a few others. How long can a CDP vendor stay independent? With this move by Symantec most of the major data protection companies now have this feature. Netapp might go for an acquisition here. They have the NearStore VTL software but not true CDP. HDS is more likely to source than buy CDP. The field is getting very narrow indeed.

Of course, CDP vendors may opt to stay the course and not sell out. That's fine if you enjoy getting stomped by one of the big boys. Most data protection vendors can now offer a full spectrum of solutions, hardware and software. Independents are left to pick up the scraps.Despite the customers they already have time is running out on these companies. There will be fewer and fewer folks ready to buy from a small company when they can get it as an add-on or feature of their backup software. Eventually the big boys will start pricing this software to move until it finally is a standard feature. Then what?

My advice to those still trying to swim against the tide is to get out of the ocean while you can. Otherwise, there will be nowhere left to swim to.