SVG Sit-Down: Wasabi Technologies CMO Mike Welts Reflects on 2023's Business, Offers Outlook on 2024

SVG Sit-Down: Wasabi Technologies CMO Mike Welts Reflects on 2023's Business, Offers Outlook on 2024 Artificial intelligence will further permeate operations in the cloud By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor

Friday, January 5, 2024 - 9:37 am

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2023 was a banner year for Wasabi Technologies. In a 12-month span, the company made significant strides with local partners like Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox and Premier League's Liverpool FC, forged a new partnership with IBM for advances in hybrid cloud environments, and more.

At the 2023 Wasabi Fenway Bowl in Boston on Dec. 28, Wasabi Technologies Chief Marketing Officer Mike Welts sat down with SVG to examine the progress made in the past year, the workflows and technologies that have had the most impact, and what industry trends will make the biggest splash in the coming year.

Wasabi Technologies' Mike Welts at the 2023 Wasabi Fenway Bowl on Dec. 28, 2023

How would you describe Wasabi's growth in 2023?

It has been a tremendous year with incredible growth. We had a milestone year, but, when we started [the company in 2017], it was originally thought of as a cloud archive platform. We've realized that Wasabi is about more than archiving content that occurred in the past; it's also about supplying cloud services for content being made in the present and the future. We've created a single, one-size-fits-all, super-fast cloud solution that has given a new meaning to what we eventually called hot cloud storage and has opened up new markets.

Overall, what workflows and technologies made the most progress in the past 12 months?

There's one particular service that we've continued to work on over the past 12-24 months: backup. For those just beginning their journey and migration to the cloud, the first thing is backup, along with having to protect yourself from ransomware. We've made tremendous inroads on that. Of course, this development is led by our partnerships with companies like Veeam (who are the No. 1 player in backup), Commvault, Rubrik, and others in that space. Aside from being a cloud storage company at our core, we've become an ingredient to everything that sits on top of everything. Storage matters because it's about the data coming from those applications. With the advances of technologies like artificial intelligence, it's creating the beauty of what we call the bottomless cloud, which is the ability to have unlimited access to that data.

How do you expect AI to impact business in 2024?

It depends on what industries you're working in, but, in regard to sports, media, and entertainment, we're migrating away from the old way of archiving content. We're continuing to see the digitization of this content, and, through the help of AI, we'll be able to tag all the data in the material that they've spent years recording. This tool will make certain things a lot more searchable and will help entities like leagues and teams create real-time, instantaneous pushes to social media to their respective fanbases.

What is an example of where AI has enhanced operations?

We did a great demo with Liverpool Football Club for a prototype in October. We partnered with a company that came up with this AI platform that allowed them to do the tagging of the data and tied it with a surveillance app. We did a mock trial to determine, at any given moment in the game, how many people in the stands were wearing something that had a Nike logo on it. For fun, we added another variable: how many people were wearing a Nike logo when this player scored at a specific time of the game and if there was a Wasabi logo up in the stadium. We entered all of that information, and we were able to see files with those criteria in six seconds. We wanted to see if there was a breaking point for the system, but, in this case, the platform nailed it. When it comes to sponsorship, Liverpool are able to go to a certain company and give them a number of how many supporters were wearing their brand. In addition, you're able to push that same video to social media. As you look towards 2024, this is the thing that's going to drive the media and entertainment industry.

What other trend will define the way the industry works in the coming year?

A whole other trend is the concept of multi-cloud environments. The media and entertainment industry is very much stuck with working on-prem, but, coming off a strike, they're wondering how they could save some money. Moving to the cloud [is the best-case scenario] because of the expense, so this is going to be a major shift for people this year.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2024/01/05/svg-sit-down-wasabi-technologie...
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