Cohesity wins Cisco durable growth & AI security award

Cohesity has received Cisco's "Top Durable Growth and Innovation Partner for FY25" award under the Cisco SolutionsPlus programme, following several years of joint work on data security and protection offerings.

Cisco recognised the data security company for sustained revenue performance, joint customer deployments, and product development over the past three years.

The SolutionsPlus scheme allows Cisco customers to buy "Cisco Compatible" products through Cisco's global sales teams and partners. Cisco subjects those products to a technical validation process and co-develops Cisco Validated Designs, or CVDs, to confirm interoperability and support.

Cohesity and Cisco have expanded their collaboration across security, data protection and infrastructure. The partners have released a series of joint products over recent years. The products link Cohesity software with Cisco SecureX, Cisco XDR and Cisco UCS X-Series Modular System.

They have also published multiple CVDs across backup, recovery and cybersecurity scenarios. The designs outline recommended architectures for customers deploying Cohesity's data protection software with Cisco infrastructure and security tools.

AI software on Cisco pods

The partners plan to make Cohesity Gaia software generally available on Cisco AI PODs. Cisco describes these as integrated stacks that combine compute, storage and networking with NVIDIA AI Enterprise software. The companies are targeting organisations building AI environments that need data protection and security functions alongside training and inference workloads.

The move extends Cohesity's reach into Cisco's emerging AI infrastructure offering. It also adds another deployment route for Cohesity Gaia, the company's AI-focused software, for customers who buy infrastructure through Cisco channels.

Cohesity and Cisco have worked together for more than seven years. They initially focused on data protection for Cisco hardware, then expanded into security integrations, including Cisco SecureX and Cisco XDR.

Vikram Kanodia, Vice President of Tech Alliances at Cohesity, said the award reflected the partnership's longevity.

"Security is a team sport, and this award is the culmination of over seven years of joint innovation and investment between our two companies. Cohesity and Cisco are on a mission to make it super simple for our joint customers and prospects to procure full-stack data protection and ransomware solutions and access support for them through a single program."

The partnership has also focused on customers in highly regulated sectors such as healthcare. These organisations face pressure to protect sensitive data against ransomware and operational disruption.

Japanese Red Cross Maebashi Hospital is one of the joint customers using Cohesity and Cisco XDR. The hospital uses the products in its cyber resilience strategy.

"Even with multiple layers of security, ransomware damage continues to occur," said Dr Minoru Nakano, Director, Japanese Red Cross Maebashi Hospital. "That's why we believe resilience-focused solutions like Cohesity and Cisco XDR are essential - and this is shared by our leadership."

Growth focus

Cohesity positions itself as a data security and management firm that protects and secures data while also offering analytics powered by AI and machine learning. It promotes a Zero Trust-based approach through its Data Cloud platform and works with large enterprises and public sector organisations worldwide.

The company says customers in more than 140 countries use its products. It reports that these include 70% of the Global 500. It also lists strategic relationships with large technology firms, including NVIDIA, Amazon, Google, IBM, Cisco and HPE.

Cohesity's recognition within SolutionsPlus reflects its growing role within Cisco's ecosystem of security and infrastructure products. Cisco relies on the programme to extend its portfolio through third-party offerings that pass its validation requirements.

The award highlights Cisco's interest in partners that combine data protection, cybersecurity and AI-focused software. It also indicates ongoing demand from joint customers for integrated approaches to ransomware defence and recovery.

Cohesity plans further work with Cisco teams and customers worldwide in the current financial year under the SolutionsPlus programme.