VMware virtualization reshapes backup (2003-2008)
When VMware made servers into snapshottable files, the backup industry had to rebuild. Image-based, agentless backup replaced file-level agents, and vendors like Veeam emerged specifically for virtual machines.
The backup market fragmented as legacy tools struggled with VM state.
VM-aware backup became table stakes for every enterprise backup vendor.
Each time infrastructure gains a new stateful layer, recovery tooling must be rebuilt for it. AI agents are the next such layer.
