MSSPs are under pressure to restore systems quickly after a breach. Dell’s new PowerProtect updates tackle that need by improving recovery speed, strengthening data protection, and simplifying operations across hybrid and cloud environments. The goal goes beyond backup - it’s about building ongoing resilience.
Rob Emsley, Director, Cyber Resilience, Dell Technologies, told MSSP Alert that, “The latest PowerProtect updates deliver smarter, faster, and more comprehensive cyber resilience to global organizations. Enhancements across the portfolio are designed to provide organizations with the tools they need to protect data, streamline operations, and recover efficiently, all while maintaining a focus on performance, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.”
Emsley’s point underscores Dell’s broader strategy: to shift from reactive backup to proactive resilience. As ransomware continues to exploit gaps in traditional recovery models, Dell is emphasizing simplicity and integration. The latest PowerProtect portfolio brings everything - backup, recovery, anomaly detection, and cloud archiving - into a unified environment that helps enterprises and service providers respond faster when disruptions strike.
Smarter, Connected Data Protection
The PowerProtect portfolio now features a series of enhancements designed to eliminate complexity and strengthen the link between protection and recovery. Among the key updates:
- Dell NativeEdge integration, enabling image-level backup and recovery for virtual machines at the edge.
- Nutanix AHV protection, bringing unified data resilience to hybrid virtualization environments.
- Anomaly Detection review, turning backup data into actionable security intelligence for faster incident analysis.
- Archive to Object upgrades, supporting long-term retention with Microsoft Azure and AIX workloads.
These additions signal Dell’s continued move toward automation and intelligence-driven recovery. A new PowerProtect Data Manager Appliance further integrates management and protection, giving IT teams centralized visibility and control while reducing operational overhead.
MSSP Impact
For MSSPs, the message is straightforward: PowerProtect isn’t just an enterprise tool - it’s a platform for delivering managed resilience. The updates make it easier to standardize data protection offerings, automate recovery operations, and build consistent, scalable backup environments for clients with diverse infrastructures.
Emsley noted that the same threats targeting enterprise data are also hitting managed environments -and often through the backup systems themselves.
“Since backup infrastructure is often targeted in cyberattacks, securing this environment is a natural complement to the services that MSSPs provide,” he said. “PowerProtect offers opportunities for MSSPs to expand their value by advising on secure backup practices and integrating cyber resilience into their offerings. Features like air-gapped vaulting, anomaly detection, and ransomware protection align with MSSPs’ focus on mitigating risks and ensuring rapid recovery of critical data after an attack.”
This approach creates room for MSSPs to move up the value chain. Rather than simply managing infrastructure, they can guide clients on resilience strategy - deploying PowerProtect’s automation, air-gapped vaulting, and centralized dashboards to shorten recovery times and ensure data integrity across hybrid and multi-cloud setups. “Centralized management and automation help simplify operations,” Emsley added, “enabling MSSPs to deliver resilience across hybrid and cloud environments and support business continuity.”
Advancing Cyber Recovery
One of the biggest challenges organizations face after an attack is restoring clean data quickly and confidently. Dell’s updates to PowerProtect Cyber Recovery and CyberSense directly target that problem. The improvements - such as expanded vaulting to 384TB on Azure and the ability to manage a single CyberSense server across multiple recovery sites - focus on operational simplicity and scale.
Emsley said the goal is to help organizations close the gap between detection and recovery. “The latest updates to Cyber Recovery and CyberSense focus on improving both security and operational efficiency,” he explained. “Expanded vaulting capacity and safeguarding additional workloads empower secure and reliable restoration of critical data, delivering enhanced security, simplified management, and greater operational efficiency.”
In practice, this means less downtime, more transparency, and a clearer recovery path after ransomware incidents. “By addressing both the technical and operational aspects of recovery,” Emsley added, “these updates help organizations respond to incidents with greater confidence and efficiency.”
Building Toward Resilience as a Service
Dell’s PowerProtect roadmap reflects a clear shift reshaping the managed security market - resilience as a service. By combining automation, intelligence, and flexible deployment, MSSPs can move from reactive recovery to proactive assurance, offering readiness and compliance guarantees directly within their service models.
For Dell, the PowerProtect portfolio is more than a backup suite; it’s becoming the foundation of a modern cyber resilience strategy. And for MSSPs, these updates create a practical way to deliver that resilience as a managed service—turning recovery confidence into measurable outcomes for their clients.
