Businesses that run on a massive amount of data are trying to protect that data now more than ever as a result of advanced cyberhacking techniques. But data security means more than just keeping bad guys out; it’s also about having a way to restore lost data. Backup and recovery are just as vital to data security as passwords and firewalls — this truth also extends to data stored in the cloud, according to Thomas Shaffstall (pictured), storage network analyst at Exelon Business Services Company LLC.

“We had to make sure all our data is being held properly. Going to the cloud, we want to make sure that what we’re putting out there is going to be held securely,” Shaffstall said, explaining that Exelon has spent the past few years moving into the cloud.

Shaffstall spoke with Dave Vellante (@dvellante) and Stu Miniman (@stu), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Veritas Vision conference in Las Vegas. They discussed the data needs of his company, including data protection, and the process the company took to move to the cloud. (* Disclosure below.)

Massive data demands new networks

Exelon is a utility company that deals with wind, solar, natural gas and nuclear generation. From a technical perspective, that means a number of remote sites and lots of data to transfer, process and store. To manage this data effectively, in addition to moving to the cloud, the company is also looking into offering data centers as a service to their customer businesses, Shaffstall explained.

When it comes to the cloud, Exelon worked with a number of concepts before turning to Microsoft’s Azure cloud service. Now, they have a cloud for production, development and a testing sandbox. These clouds are coming together with the infrastructure Exelon already runs. For the sake of security, the company is integrating these systems in a careful, precise way, according to Shaffstall.

Currently, the Exelon network comprises three main data centers, which will be consolidated down to two, and a number of utilities with their own data centers. Together, the network manages and stores about nine petabytes of data. “That’s just on our corporate side, not even our nuclear side; we have more on that side,” Shaffstall said.

To protect that data, the company migrated all its virtual backups to VMware Inc. solutions on company servers. Exelon covers the rest of its protection needs with Veritas Technology LLC’s NetBackup, a backup, storage and deduplication system on one device.

“It’s very easy to use … reliable for restores and all that kind of stuff — good management,” Shaffstall concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Veritas Vision 2017. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Veritas Vision 2017. Neither Veritas Technologies LLC nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

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