Veeam and Microsoft Strengthen Partnership with New Investment in Cloud Data Protection
Introduction
Veeam, a global leader in data backup and recovery solutions, has announced an expanded investment in Microsoft technologies. This partnership strengthens cloud-native backup, Azure data protection, and enterprise resilience strategies for businesses worldwide.
Earlier this year, Microsoft made a strategic investment in Veeam Software. But this wasn't just about funding—it represented a fundamental shift in the Microsoft 365 backup landscape. For years, backup vendors have had to constantly battle Microsoft's APIs, dealing with either throttling limits or building their own infrastructure. Now, Veeam finds itself in a unique position, noticeably different from other vendors. So what exactly did Veeam gain? How is Microsoft treating them differently? Let's take a closer look.
1. More Than Money: What Veeam Really Got
While Microsoft's financial backing is significant, what's more important is that it essentially serves as an official stamp of approval for Veeam's status. This provides strong validation, especially valuable ahead of a potential future IPO. But the benefits go much further:
• Faster AI Integration: This is one of the most immediate advantages. Veeam is working closely with Microsoft to deeply integrate AI and machine learning into its platform. This means:
- More sensitive threat detection: Using AI to identify suspicious activity and ransomware in real-time.
- Smarter recovery: Automated recovery processes that enable businesses to quickly bounce back from security incidents.
- Deeper data insights: Extracting value from M365 and Azure backup data to improve operational efficiency.
In short, Veeam is building a next-generation data protection solution with proactive defense and intelligent response capabilities.
• Deep Integration with the New Microsoft 365 Backup Service: This is where things get really interesting. Microsoft recently launched its M365 Backup service based on a consumption billing model. This service uses completely new, specially optimized APIs that completely solve the throttling issues that plagued the old Graph API.
This creates a powerful hybrid model: Microsoft handles high-performance storage, while Veeam provides comprehensive backup management.
- Veeam is among the first strategic partners and deeply integrated vendors.
- Enterprise customers pay Microsoft directly for backup storage (approximately $0.15 per GB per month), while Veeam handles backup management, granular recovery, and additional off-site storage capabilities.
• Joint Sales and Market Exposure: The companies have launched joint sales initiatives to promote Veeam Data Cloud for M365 and Azure to more customers, providing tangible benefits to Veeam's brand and market share.
• Continuous Innovation and Future Compatibility: Veeam's products will remain tightly coupled with Microsoft's latest technologies, including future support for Entra ID, Copilot, and new features continuously rolling out in the Azure ecosystem.
2. Deep Dive: What Makes the New "Fast Lane" So Special?
Many might wonder: Was the old Graph API really that slow? Does the "optimized access" really offer such significant improvements? These are valid questions in the M365 backup space, so let's compare them in detail.
Traditional Graph API (The Old Way)
Previously, most backup vendors used Graph API to pull data from Microsoft's cloud—emails, files, SharePoint sites, Teams chat records, everything relied on it. The process looked something like this:
- Backup software had to pull data itself.
- Every API request required authentication, queuing, and network transmission.
- Once backup scales increased, Microsoft would throttle the requests.
Main bottlenecks:
Throttling: This was the biggest pain point. Too many backup requests would return 429 errors (Too Many Requests) with "retry later" messages.
API call overhead: More files meant more API calls, slowing down performance.
Network latency: Data had to travel across the public internet to vendors' servers.
High complexity: Different M365 services had different API behaviors, requiring vendors to write extensive logic for retries and error handling.
Long backup windows: A full backup could take days to complete.
Typical performance: 15-20 MB/s per tenant was considered normal—truly impressive in the worst way.
New Microsoft 365 Backup Service (Optimized Access)
Microsoft has now built a dedicated backup service within its own cloud, completely different from the sluggish Graph API approach:
- Both backup and recovery happen within Microsoft's internal network.
- No public internet routing, no throttling—efficiency skyrockets.
- Third-party vendors simply connect to this service, and Microsoft handles the rest.
The advantages are clear:
1. Throttling was essentially eliminated: The internal is designed for high throughput.
2. Extreme speed: Microsoft claims backup and recovery performance exceeds 1TB/hour.
3. Low latency: Data replicates within the same cloud region without crossing the internet.
4. "Push/internal replication" model: Vendors no longer need to pull data piece by piece.
5. Higher RPO/RTO: More frequent backups and shorter recovery times.
Real-world performance: Backups that used to take days can now complete in hours.
Compare the two in one table:
Feature
Traditional Graph API
New M365 Backup Service
Performance
Slow (approx. 15–20MB/s)
Very fast (>1TB/hour)
Throttling
Main bottleneck
Basically eliminated
Latency
High
Low
Model
Vendor actively pulls data
Microsoft internal replication
Cost
No API fees, vendor charges for software & storage
Microsoft charges per GB + vendor fees
Recoverability
Slow for large-scale recovery
Fast recovery, still supports granularity
3. What About Other Backup Vendors?
Some might ask: Is Microsoft giving Veeam special treatment? Not exactly—Veeam just got a head start in this strategic initiative:
- Graph API remains available: Other vendors can still use the old method, but throttling issues persist.
- New backup service is open to all: Any vendor can integrate if they choose. However, regardless of which software customers use, they'll pay Microsoft for storage (whether Veeam pays too remains unclear).
- Veeam's first-mover advantage: Veeam leads in technical integration and product rollout. Microsoft's investment also deepens its collaboration, ensuring smoother innovation and market promotion going forward.
Why This Partnership Matters
The collaboration between Veeam and Microsoft is not just about financial investment—it’s about deep integration across hybrid and multi-cloud platforms.
Key benefits include:
Enhanced Azure-native backup and restore options.
Streamlined Microsoft 365 data protection.
Greater security against ransomware through immutable backups.
📌 According to Microsoft Azure’s official blog, cloud adoption continues to accelerate, making backup and disaster recovery more critical than ever.
Veeam’s Role in Hybrid Cloud and Microsoft Ecosystem
With this investment, Veeam is focusing on:
Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) backup for containerized apps.
Microsoft 365 recovery enhancements for Teams, SharePoint, and Exchange.
Hybrid cloud disaster recovery with seamless data portability.
Improved compliance with data governance standards.
Future-proof strategies for protecting workloads across multi-cloud environments.
With Microsoft’s infrastructure and Veeam’s expertise, IT leaders gain more control, flexibility, and confidence in managing critical data.
Conclusion
The Veeam and Microsoft investment signals a stronger future for cloud-based data protection and enterprise resilience. Businesses running workloads in Azure or hybrid environments will benefit from tighter integration, faster recovery, and improved security.
For organizations seeking a reliable backup and recovery strategy, this partnership delivers the tools needed to safeguard data in an evolving IT landscape.
