Data management heavyweight Veritas Technologies LLC today said it’s acquiring Globanet, a Los Angeles firm whose software is used by enterprises to archive employee correspondence for legal purposes.

The deal could cement Veritas’ position in the archiving software market, where Gartner Inc. ranks it as the largest player by revenue as of 2019. The terms of the acquisition weren’t disclosed. 

Archiving products such as those sold by Veritas and Globanet play multiple roles in enterprises’ information technology operations. They allow companies to create backups of business data that they can retrieve if the original becomes unavailable due to an outage or ransomware. Additionally, the ability to archive sensitive records reliably is a requirement for complying with industry regulations in certain sectors such as financial services.

The biggest asset Veritas is gaining through the Globanet deal is the firm’s Merge1 data governance software. Merge1 allows companies to collect and archive employee correspondence from Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams and other communications services. Having an archive of employee correspondence is important for large companies because it helps with legal tasks such as proving that workers are complying with privacy laws when sharing customer information internally.

On top of popular communications services, Globanet’s Merge1 software can archive data from other sources such as Bloomberg terminals and Box. According to Veritas, the deal will allow it to give customers visibility of records in over 80 new sources.

“By integrating Globanet’s technology into our digital compliance portfolio, we’re making it simpler for Veritas customers to find and act on more of their data, no matter where it lives,” said Veritas Chief Executive Officer Greg Hughes.

The deal will not only expand Veritas’ feature set but also give it more control over an important component of its product strategy. Veritas resells Merge1 as part of a long-running partnership with Globanet and, according to the company, “many” of its customers already use the software. The acquisition will enable the data protection giant to better align the feature development roadmap for Merge1 with its priorities, as well as eliminate the prospect of a competitor acquiring it.

There are also a few secondary advantages to the deal. Veritas said in a customer FAQ that it plans to provide a “unified purchasing experience” for companies that buy both its products and Globanet’s software. Additionally, on top of Merge1, Globanet brings to the table four other software solutions for automating tasks such as managing archived data and optimizing storage utilization.

David Scott, the director of product management at Veritas, provided a closer look at the company’s product strategy in a recent appearance on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE. Scott noted that there’s a particular need for tools that can help archive employee correspondence in the financial sector. “It is a requirement for the financial service community that you sample a subset of those communications for violations” of laws that apply to the sector, the executive explained. 

Photo: Veritas