CommVault® Systems Uses Patents as Means to Transform Itself Into an Information Management Company

"CommVault® Systems has transformed from a backup company into an information management company." That statement by Marcus Muller, CommVault's Intellectual Property Counsel, encapsulates how CommVault Systems currently views itself as a company. Muller justifies his position by pointing to CommVault's innovative efforts around its Simpana® Software suite and how these have resulted in patents that helped CommVault transform itself into an information management company while giving it an edge up on its competition going forward.

I recently had the chance to speak with Mr. Muller about a number of patents that were granted to CommVault Systems by the U.S. Patents and Trademark Office. The focus of our conversation was on the significance of these recently granted patents as well as what CommVault's numerous patent filings and awards mean to its customers short and long term.

Patents tend to provide intangible as well as tangible benefits to its existing and future customers. The filing and granting of patents provide customers with an intangible sense of assurance that CommVault is prepared to address issues that are forecast to emerge in the not-too-distant future. In a tangible sense, patents provide proof that CommVault is continuing to innovate and develop its core Simpana software suite for tomorrow's data center information management problems.

CommVault already has a documented history of doing this. Back in early 2001, CommVault filed for a number of patents related to the management of data changing over time. These patents have since become part of the core technology found in CommVault®'s Simpana software suite. Now, in 2008, this underlying architecture and these inventions have been extended enabling CommVault to deliver enterprise-wide data protection, archive, replication, and search to its customers across all tiers of storage.

One of the reasons that Muller views CommVault as having the ability to file so many patents for a company its size is that the underlying architecture for its Simpana software suites is fairly unique. CommVault developed its Simpana software suite in-house which, from the beginning, was designed as a tightly integrated suite. This tight integration leads to innovation and new possibilities that CommVault seeks to protect through the filing of patents.

Muller also feels this tight integration puts many of its competitors working with multiple point products at a distinct disadvantage. "Competitors are trying to cobble together a bunch of point products to produce a unified product," says Muller.

The integration found between the products in the Simpana software suite enables it to perform certain tasks that its competitors cannot. For instance, CommVault Simpana shares a common technology engine (CTE) between its archive, backup, e-discovery and storage resource management (SRM) software.

Using the CTE, administrators can set policies that span directories, volumes and systems to collect information and apply business policies for data archiving, data protection, data retention and disaster recovery. By filing and being granted patents that protect this type of functionality, it not only documents CommVault's thought leadership in this space but it gives CommVault the proof it needs to defend itself should a competitor try to copy Simpana's underlying technology.

Given the long-term nature of the patent process which can span many years, the inherent value of recently filed and awarded patents is not always immediately reflected in the current release of CommVault's Simpana software suite. However customers that are looking to the future should find assurance in the eleven new patents that CommVault was granted in the past year plus the 130+ other patents that it has on file with the U.S. Patents office.

These granted patents plus the numerous other patents on file provide proof that CommVault will continue to evolve. Even as it has used past patents to transform itself into the information management company that it is today, the patents that it is filing today should give its customers the assurance that it will continue to evolve. For even as CommVault took steps in the past to transform itself into the information management company that it is now, currently filed and awarded patents prove it is again taking the steps to transform Simpana into the type of product that its customers will need in the future.