ExaGrid is placing air-gapped backup storage at the centre of its strategy in Saudi Arabia, as organisations face growing requirements around protecting backup environments from cyberattacks and meeting regulatory requirements. 

The company, which entered Saudi Arabia in 2022, specialises in backup storage rather than production storage or backup software. Its focus is on the performance, capacity, cost and protection of backup environments. 

ExaGrid said its appliances can be deployed as fully offline systems to support air-gap requirements associated with regulations such as those from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and the National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA). 

Speaking to Tech Arabia, Wasef Baidas, Territory Sales Manager, ExaGrid, said the company is also seeing a change in how organisations think about backup, particularly as attackers increasingly target backup environments. 

“People were not taking backup seriously. Now, after people started taking backup seriously, hackers need to make sure you don’t have that option. So the first target for any hackers today is the backup itself,” he explained.  

He added that ExaGrid is relying on distributors and technology partners to expand its reach in Saudi Arabia. The company works with more than 25 certified backup software technology partners, allowing its storage appliances to work across different backup environments.  ExaGrid is also exploring the possibility of manufacturing its backup storage locally, although the company has not disclosed a confirmed plan or timeline. 

Baidas said the company is interested in the opportunity as Saudi Arabia continues to develop its local technology and manufacturing ecosystem. “We are looking at backup storage, and we manufacture the backup storage. It would be a great opportunity, and we will work on having manufacturing (in Saudi Arabia).” 

For now, ExaGrid said it can deliver its hardware within two to three weeks. The company is continuing to expand its presence as organisations place greater emphasis on protecting backup environments and maintaining the ability to recover from cyber incidents.