#40 - Craig Martell, CTO at Cohesity
Slice of Technology Team
01/15/2025
Join us on this week's episode of the Slice of Technology AI podcast, hosted by Jared S. Taylor!
Our Guest: Craig Martell, CTO at Cohesity.
What you’ll get out of this episode:
- Cohesity becomes the largest data protection company after acquiring Veritas.
- AI's critical role in safeguarding data against ransomware and other threats.
- Introduction to Gaia: Cohesity's generative AI product for business insights.
- The importance of understanding AI as "statistics at scale" to manage its limitations effectively.
- Insights into Cohesity's vision of using secondary storage to drive business value.
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Introduction
In this episode, Jared S. Taylor hosts Craig Martell, CTO at Cohesity, who shares insights into the transformative role of AI in the world of data protection. From the company's recent acquisition of Veritas to innovative AI-driven solutions, Craig unpacks how Cohesity is shaping the future of enterprise data management.
Cohesity’s Journey to Industry Leadership
Cohesity, founded by Mohit Aran over a decade ago, started with the ambitious goal of enabling analytics on backup and secondary data. Fast forward to today, the company has become the world's largest data protection provider, following its acquisition of Veritas. This milestone solidifies Cohesity's position with hundreds of exabytes of data under management.
Craig highlights that while backups may seem mundane, they are critical to data safety. With cutting-edge solutions, Cohesity transforms traditional backups into a robust system capable of handling ransomware attacks and ensuring instantaneous data recovery.
AI’s Role in Data Protection
Craig explains the dual pillars of AI at Cohesity:
- Ensuring Data Safety: AI-driven systems identify and protect sensitive data like social security numbers and health records. Machine learning models help detect anomalies, such as ransomware attacks, before they compromise both primary and backup data.
- Empowering Businesses: Through its generative AI platform Gaia, Cohesity offers actionable insights by analyzing backup data. Businesses can use Gaia to summarize documents, retrieve important information, and even uncover trends—all from secondary storage.
This approach underscores Craig’s belief that backup data should be more than an emergency resource; it’s a living digital twin of enterprise information.
The AI Perspective: Errors, Not Hallucinations
Craig passionately advocates for viewing AI through a realistic lens. AI, he says, is "statistics at scale," which means it’s inherently error-prone because it models the future based on past data. He critiques the term "hallucination," preferring to frame inaccuracies as measurable errors. This perspective is pivotal for building trust and understanding AI’s capabilities and limitations.
What’s Next for Cohesity?
Looking ahead, Cohesity is focused on unlocking the untapped potential of secondary storage. Craig envisions a future where backup data powers business analytics, machine learning models, and actionable insights, becoming a cornerstone of enterprise operations.
Conclusion
Craig Martell’s conversation with Jared S. Taylor sheds light on how Cohesity is at the forefront of merging AI and data protection. By treating backup data as a valuable resource and leveraging advanced AI technologies, Cohesity is driving innovation in an ever-evolving digital landscape.
