Joint Venture Between Cohesity and SoftBank

• 91% of surveyed IT decision makers in Japan believe their secondary data is fragmented and is or could become nearly impossible to manage long term
• Joint venture to solve mass data fragmentation challenges by consolidating secondary data silos onto one platform

Cohesity Inc., in hyperconverged secondary storage and a portfolio company of SoftBank Vision Fund L.P., and SoftBank Corp. announced a joint venture that ushers in modern data infrastructure in Japan, enabling Japanese enterprises to backup, store, manage and derive insights from all of their secondary data and applications through the Cohesity DataPlatform.

The joint venture operates under the name Cohesity Japan KK. SoftBank and SoftBank C&S Corp. will distribute and resell Cohesity solutions in Japan, along with other partners including Networld Corporation and ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation. Solutions from Cohesity are available to Japanese enterprises.

Cohesity and SoftBank share a belief that technology is fueling an information revolution and the impact of that revolution can transform industries around the world. As the information continues to accelerate, more secondary data is created which needs to be backed up, stored and analyzed. Cohesity provides technology that unlocks the power of secondary data and applications.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with SoftBank in enabling Japanese enterprises to use modern data infrastructure to advance their digital transformation journeys,” said Mohit Aron, CEO and founder, Cohesity. “SoftBank and Cohesity both believe that if enterprises can derive maximum insights from secondary data and applications, the possibilities are endless across a variety of industries including financial services, healthcare, public sector, life sciences, media, technology, telecommunications and education.“

“Collaborating with SoftBank Vision Fund, we support their portfolio companies in deploying cutting edge technologies and services to Japan,” said Kunihiro Fujinaga, SVP, head of enterprise business strategy division, enterprise business unit, SoftBank. “Cohesity is disrupting the $60 billion secondary data and apps market. We look forward to working with Cohesity to deliver data infrastructure technology that empowers Japanese enterprises to provide better customer experiences and accelerate innovations that can change the world.“

Secondary data includes data used for backups, archives, analytics, testing and development and other workloads and comprises 80% of an enterprise’s total data volume.

Many organizations manage secondary data in silos utilizing multiple point products that do not integrate and are costly to run. This creates a phenomenon called mass data fragmentation. According to a global survey conducted by market research firm Vanson Bourne Ltd in October 2018¹, 91% of surveyed IT decision makers in Japan believe their secondary data is fragmented and is or could become nearly impossible to manage long term.

Of those who believe their secondary data is fragmented in Japan: 

• 40% are concerned about major data compliance issues with data privacy regulations that could lead to large fines and reputational damage.
• 43% fear it puts their organization at a real competitive disadvantage, especially if competitors are able to exploit their data more effectively.
• 35% are concerned about offering inferior customer experiences.
• 50% worry about depleting their organization’s IT budget by spending too much on unnecessary storage.

Cohesity Japan solves mass data fragmentation challenges by consolidating secondary data silos onto the DataPlatform. Customers no longer need multiple products to backup, archive, manage and analyze their secondary data, which reduces infrastructure costs and management complexities.

This approach is similar to a smartphone that consolidates a phone, camera, flashlight, navigation services and other features on to a single platform with one user interface. And, like the smartphone, customers can also run Cohesity and third-party applications directly on the DataPlatform to conduct granular analysis, help ensure data compliance, and improve security, among other functions.

Customers are embracing Cohesity technology around the world. The company announced a 300% increase in revenue when comparing its fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2017. It also announced that it quadrupled the size of its customer base compared to the previous fiscal year.

Cohesity customers include Cisco Systems, Inc., Hyatt Hotels Corporation, LendingClub Corporation, NASA, Northern Trust Corporation, the San Francisco Giants, the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Air Force.

The firm has appointed Hiromasa Ebi as representative director of Cohesity Japan. He is based in Tokyo and has more than 25 years of experience in IT, with a focus on storage and data infrastructure. He has held senior leadership positions at companies including Scality Inc., Dell EMC, and NetApp, Inc.

“Enterprises in Japan are looking for cutting-edge technology that consolidates data silos, eliminates mass data fragmentation and makes it easy to extract more value from their data,” said Ebi. “Data is the key to digital innovation and we are excited to partner with SoftBank to help Japanese customers realize the potential of this business-critical asset.“

*A survey conducted in October 2018 by market research firm Vanson Bourne reflects the responses of 100 respondents from Japan across multiple industries, with average annual revenues of $19.6 billion.