Veeam names Niraj Tolia new CTO after acquiring Alcion

Veeam has named Niraj Tolia as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO), following the acquisition of the security-first, AI-driven data management startup, Alcion.

Tolia, who co-founded Alcion along with Vaibhav Kamra, joins Veeam with significant experience in the data management sector.

Previously, Tolia co-founded Kasten, a company known for its contributions to Kubernetes data resilience, and served as General Manager at Kasten by Veeam after it was acquired in 2020. Tolia is expected to steer Veeam's product strategy and engineering efforts for the Veeam Data Cloud (VDC), which aims to enhance the company's data resilience solutions.

Anand Eswaran, CEO at Veeam, remarked on Tolia's appointment, stating, "Niraj is one of those rare individuals who not only understands where the market is headed but also possesses the skills and vision to bring that future to life for our customers. He has already demonstrated this with the creation of Kasten, which has become the number one solution for Kubernetes data resilience since being acquired by Veeam in 2020." Eswaran added that Tolia's track record and the rapid growth of Veeam Data Cloud form a strong foundation for future innovations in data resilience.

Tolia's role at Veeam will involve close collaboration with Anton Gostev, Veeam's Chief Product Officer. Their main objective will be to ensure that customers continue to benefit from Veeam's focus on data resilience. The Alcion team will be integrated into Veeam immediately.

Tolia expressed his enthusiasm for his new position, emphasising the importance of customer-centric solutions in today's digital world. "Everything starts with the customer," Tolia said. "In our digital world, protecting data and ensuring its resilience against threats and outages is more critical than ever. Combining Alcion's AI and security capabilities with the robust power of Veeam Data Cloud gives us an extraordinary opportunity to enhance our solutions and reinforce Veeam's leadership in Data Resilience."

Before founding Kasten, Tolia led product development at Maginatics, a startup that was later acquired by Dell EMC's Data Protection Group. He holds a Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. in Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

The company has also announced that Tolia, along with Gostev and other Veeam leaders, will participate in the VeeamON Data Resilience Summit, which will be held virtually for the Asia region on October 2. This event aims to showcase how organisations can ensure the security, protection, and accessibility of their data.