Object First bookings jump 148% on ransomware demand

Object First reported 148% year-on-year bookings growth in the second quarter, reflecting stronger demand for immutable backup storage.

The figures point to rising spending by organisations seeking to protect backup data from ransomware and other cyber attacks, as pressure grows on companies and public bodies to prove they can recover systems as well as defend them.

Bookings in Europe, the Middle East and Africa rose 205% from a year earlier, while bookings in the Americas increased 111%. The company also reported a 74% rise in transacting customers, with customers now active in 45 countries, and a 65% increase in transacting partners.

Larger transactions also increased during the quarter. Six-figure deals rose 133%, including two seven-figure agreements linked to its partnership with Veeam across public sector and manufacturing customers.

Recovery focus

Immutable backup storage is designed so saved data cannot be altered or deleted. The feature has become more prominent as ransomware groups increasingly target backup systems to block recovery and force payments.

That has pushed recovery planning higher up the agenda for technology buyers, especially in regulated sectors and organisations with distributed infrastructure. Demand in the public sector helped support momentum during the quarter, including a deal with a higher education institution in Portugal.

Object First has centred its business on backup storage for Veeam environments, positioning its products around the need for organisations to restore data even if production systems are compromised. The company said that approach helped it win business from customers looking to simplify backup estates while tightening security controls.

During the period, Object First also launched Fleet Manager, a cloud-based management service for distributed backup storage deployments in Veeam environments. The service is aimed at enterprises and service providers that want to manage multi-tenant deployments through a single interface.

A customer at the Portuguese institution described the security rationale for the investment.

"Today we have confidence that, even with administrative access, backups cannot be deleted or modified," said Pedro Morais, IT Director, ENIDH. "The risk associated with human error or insider threats has been significantly reduced, and protection against ransomware is now effective-not just theoretical."

Partner channel

Channel partnerships also contributed to the quarter, with Veeam-linked deals featuring prominently in larger wins. One partner said a recent deployment replaced a more fragmented environment.

"Our recent deployment with Veeam and Object First for a global technology company is one of the largest and most competitive wins we've seen, consolidating a complex, multi-vendor backup environment into a single, standardised approach across their entire footprint," said Katina Hammon, Account Executive, Trace3. "The combination of Veeam and Object First stood out for how quickly it deploys and the confidence that comes with absolutely immutable storage."

The latest results come as backup and recovery vendors seek to tap a broader cyber security budget, arguing that resilience measures deserve as much attention as preventative tools. In that context, storage designed to resist tampering has moved from a specialist purchase to a more mainstream line item for organisations concerned about operational downtime.

Object First also received two honours at the UK Storage Awards, where members of the UK technology community voted it Ransomware Company of the Year and Enterprise Backup Hardware Vendor of the Year.

David Bennett, Chief Executive Officer of Object First, said customers no longer saw immutable backup storage as optional and that the company had prepared for supply constraints.

"Immutable backup storage has moved from best practice to a security requirement, and customers are acting on it now, not waiting for the next budget cycle," said Bennett. "Hardware supply chain is a challenge, and we planned for it early. Today, we are ahead of demand and shipping appliances to customers on the timelines they need. That readiness, combined with our work alongside Veeam, is why organisations are choosing us as their last line of defence against ransomware."