Rubrik launches hosted backup for on-premise NAS data

Rubrik has launched Rubrik-Hosted Protection for On-Premise Unstructured Data, a hosted service for enterprise-scale network-attached storage data.

Built on its NAS Cloud Direct offering, the service is designed to let customers back up and restore on-premise unstructured data without buying or managing their own backup storage hardware.

Rubrik is targeting a problem that has become more acute as organisations store growing volumes of files, images and datasets outside traditional structured databases. If lost, this data can be difficult and costly to recreate. Ransomware attacks can also leave the applications that rely on those files unable to operate.

The service moves backup storage, capacity management and software updates into Rubrik's cloud environment. Customers connect their existing NAS environments through software components running on their own servers, rather than deploying dedicated backup appliances on site.

Recovery focus

Rubrik says the service is intended to support what it describes as clean recovery, a cyber recovery term for restoring data from backups that have not been compromised. It also includes backup isolation and immutability measures designed to reduce the risk of backups being altered or deleted through production administrator credentials.

According to Rubrik, backups are stored in a hosted vault on a separate identity domain and protected by retention lock. Users can also recover data to a different storage array, to cloud storage or into an isolated recovery environment for testing.

Ransomware detection is integrated into the backup process. Rubrik says anomaly detection analyses file entropy and change patterns on every backup, while threat hunting across backup history is designed to help teams identify a recovery point.

The company has also added sensitive data discovery and classification for primary file shares, although that function remains in preview rather than full availability. Users can locate sensitive data and apply protection policies, retention lock and legal hold to specific assets, according to Rubrik.

Hardware pressures

The launch comes as technology buyers weigh security spending against infrastructure costs. Rubrik argues that rising hardware costs and supply constraints linked to AI demand have made it harder for some enterprises to source backup infrastructure, especially for large NAS estates.

That backdrop has increased interest in hosted and subscription-style approaches to data protection, particularly among companies that want to avoid managing additional physical systems in their own data centres. The market for unstructured data protection has also grown as sectors such as healthcare, energy, design and AI development generate larger stores of files that need to be retained and recovered quickly.

Rubrik says the service can protect data across multiple storage vendors under a single policy, reflecting the fragmented reality of many enterprise storage environments. It also includes data movement tools that allow customers to copy or migrate NAS data across platforms, secondary sites or cloud storage, then apply protection policies at the destination.

In practical terms, the offer is aimed at organisations that want to keep primary unstructured data on premises while moving backup storage management off site. That could appeal to companies with significant existing NAS deployments that do not want to expand their on-premise backup footprint.

Anneka Gupta, Chief Product Officer at Rubrik, outlined the company's position on recovery and infrastructure demands.

"Backups mean nothing if you can't be confident in a clean recovery, and hardware limitations shouldn't stand between an enterprise and its resilience," said Anneka Gupta, Chief Product Officer at Rubrik.

She added: "By taking on backup storage and orchestration directly in our cloud, Rubrik reduces infrastructure friction so organisations can protect business-critical NAS systems across vendors under one unified policy."

Rubrik-Hosted Protection for On-Premise Unstructured Data is generally available, while sensitive data discovery and classification for primary data remains in preview.