Commvault SHIFT 2025 wrapped up in November, pulling in thousands virtually and in-person for a sharp focus on resilience operations, or ResOps, as they call it. This wasn’t another vendor pitch fest. It was built for the engineers and analysts who stare down alerts, rebuild systems post-breach, and keep data flowing in hybrid setups. If your world involves wrestling with AI workloads or dodging ransomware, SHIFT laid out tools and ideas you can apply without a total overhaul.
Why SHIFT stood out
Events like this often promise the moon but deliver PowerPoints. SHIFT flipped that. It zeroed in on the mess of modern infrastructure: exploding data from AI, fragmented clouds, and attacks that start with stolen identities. Commvault’s team showed how their updates tackle these head-on, blending automation with proven recovery tactics.
The vibe was practical energy. Sessions mixed live demos, customer stories, and tech breakdowns, all tied to outcomes like slashing recovery times or spotting threats before they escalate. It felt global yet targeted—free access meant no barriers for teams worldwide.
Key announcements and highlights
The big reveal was Commvault Cloud Unity, a unified platform that pulls together data protection, security, and governance across clouds. It automates workload discovery and clean recoveries, turning what used to be manual chaos into streamlined ops. Analysts in sessions pointed out its 3x speed boost for handling Active Directory threats, a common attack vector.
Other standouts included the Phoenix Protocol for isolating and testing post-attack environments, plus AI-driven detection that logs and reverses subtle issues. A roundtable with Tech Field Day delegates dug into identity breaches, noting how they kick off 93% of incidents. Dr. Rumman Chowdhury’s talk on AI trust hammered home the need for clean data inputs to avoid model failures.
Novel approaches in play
Commvault didn’t just talk theory. They demoed agentic AI readiness, where data gets protected and prepped for models without the garbage-in risks. For cloud-native setups, their single-pane view trims costs meaningfully through smart scaling, which is a boon for DevOps teams juggling builds.
One session broke down incident response as a mix of people, tech, and automation, shifting from reactive fixes to built-in reliability. It’s the kind of stuff that lets platform engineers focus on innovation instead of firefighting.
How on-prem roots fuel cloud and security wins
Commvault’s three decades in on-premises data management is a fantastic foundation to build from. That experience has also scaled to cloud data protection, letting customers extend protections without rip-and-replace drama. It informs their security play, like automated recoveries drawn from handling massive enterprise failures.
For users, this translates to lower total costs (up to 40% savings in spots)while building defenses against breaches that average $4.5 million in damage. As AI data volumes spike, this heritage positions them to deliver steady, recoverable feeds.
Key sessions now on-demand
Missed the live action? Commvault uploaded highlights to YouTube. Check these for deeper dives:
- SHIFT 2025: Introducing Commvault Cloud Unity: CEO Sanjay Mirchandani breaks down the platform’s role in AI-ready resilience (Nov 18, 2025).
- AI Resilience: Commvault Cloud Unity Platform: CTO Pranay Ahlawat explains unified protection for AI ops (Nov 25, 2025).
- Building Trust in the Face of Regulation: A panel with Pure Storage and Kyndryl on turning compliance into real strength (Dec 9, 2025).
- AI Is Transforming Operations, But Who’s Protecting It?: Spotlights data governance amid rising AI threats (Dec 8, 2025).
The full playlist, Shift to ResOps, captures the event’s core sessions.
The takeaway for practitioners
SHIFT 2025 reinforced resilience as a daily op, not a side project. For engineers and leaders, it offered immediate wins: unified tools that cut silos, partnerships like HCLTech’s for smoother adoption, and a roadmap for AI without added risk. As regulations tighten and threats evolve, this approach feels like the standard we’ll all chase.
If you’re building or securing infrastructure, dive into the on-demand content. It’s worth the time, ideas here could save your next outage.
References:
- Commvault SHIFT Virtual site: https://www.commvault.com/shift-virtual
- Commvault YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/commvault
