V100 Summit Recap - 2025

Introduction

This is going to be a bit different from my usual technical deep-dives, but I just had to share my experience from the incredible V100 Summit with you all.

For those of you who haven’t heard of the V100 Summit, imagine getting to spend two full days with Veeam’s brightest minds, Product Management teams sharing roadmaps, fellow community members showcasing innovations, and technology discussions that make your inner geek absolutely giddy with excitement. That’s the V100 Summit in a nutshell!

The Program & Community

The V100 Summit brings together three distinct and powerful community groups under one roof - the Veeam Vanguards, Veeam Legends, and Veeam MVPs. Each group represents a unique facet of Veeam’s vibrant community ecosystem, which was thoughtfully brought together under the V100 umbrella in 2021 to foster knowledge sharing and collaboration.

Veeam Vanguards

The Vanguards are dear to my heart as that’s where my journey with Veeam truly started a few years ago. Now celebrating its 10th year, the Vanguard program has evolved from a modest group of Veeam enthusiasts into a globally recognized community of elite technical experts.

The Vanguards are truly technology evangelists and some of the most technically-minded individuals I have ever known. What sets them apart is their proactive approach to sharing knowledge, whether through technical blogs, speaking engagements, video content, or community contributions. They’re not just promoting the Veeam brand externally, they’re actively shaping the future of data protection through their expertise, presenting at major industry events, and serving as an extension of the Veeam team.

Veeam Legends

The Veeam Legends program, launched alongside the Veeam Community Hub in 2021, represents a different but equally vital aspect of our community. While the Vanguards often focus on external evangelism and technical expertise, the Legends are the beating heart of the Veeam Community Hub. They’re the content creators, problem solvers, and mentors who make the Hub an invaluable resource for Veeam users worldwide. As of this year, the program has been live for 5 years, and the impact they’ve had on knowledge sharing and community support has been nothing short of legendary.

Veeam MVPs

The Veeam MVP program, also established in 2021, recognizes exceptional Veeam employees who go above and beyond their day jobs to enrich the broader Veeam community. These individuals don’t just fulfill their regular roles, they’re passionate advocates who create educational content, write technical blogs, develop innovative code solutions, produce video series, and contribute significantly to Veeam’s knowledge base. The MVP program showcases how Veeam’s commitment to community excellence starts from within, with employees who embody the company’s values of innovation and knowledge sharing.

My Journey So Far

My journey with the program has been an amazing one which started all the way back in 2020 when I was accepted into the Veeam Vanguard program. I haven’t looked back for a second. I can confidently say that 5 years later it has changed my life so much in a positive way and has allowed me to impact the lives of others positively - it was truly a blessing.

So what does this look like 5 years later? Well, when I blogged about this back in 2020 as a young, scared backup admin, I didn’t know what I was getting myself in for. :) If I told younger me what I am doing now and where this community has taken me, I’d tell myself I’m lying.

I never thought it would have such an impact on me both personally and professionally. I have been privileged to meet some of the smartest minds in the industry, which has led to my own personal development. I have been able to accomplish things I never thought would be possible, been to places I never thought I would see, and have been able to share and experience the world with my family. It even led to my dream job at Veeam two years ago, which has honestly been the highlight of my professional career.

The journey from Veeam Vanguard to Veeam MVP has been enlightening yet humbling and has allowed me to grow and share, which is why I’m so passionate about this program and the things it has achieved. It’s thanks to the many fantastic people managing these community programs behind the scenes that allow us as technologists to do what we do.

I am a firm believer in community and growing the community because without it, I don’t think I would be where I am today both personally and professionally.

Recapping 2025

As always, the Veeam PM team blew it out of the park with a ton of sessions ranging from product enhancements to product roadmaps, live demos, and soliciting feedback in the form of an AMA session, which is always incredibly valuable.

Day 1

Day 1 kicked off with a bang, introducing the program and welcoming all the new members. Then we went straight into sessions covering Veeam’s recent acquisitions and heard from the sponsors of the event about some of the awesome work they are doing.

After a well-deserved break, we dived into some breakout sessions. Now, I wish I was able to attend every single session, I don’t know, maybe clone myself or get that Time-Turner from Harry Potter that lets me control time, but alas that wasn’t possible. So I opted to attend the Kasten Update session which walked through Kasten and some future developments.

Next up was a deep dive into the VDC ONE UI workflows. It wasn’t just about what was built, but the why behind every decision. As someone who’s passionate about user experience, seeing how each choice was made with our customers in mind was incredibly refreshing.

Safe to say that it’s been a full-on day so far. After a quick lunch, we were straight back into it with an amazing session covering the behind-the-scenes of Veeam Data Cloud Vault and how it’s making an impact on our customers by having a first-party STaaS offering.

After that, we heard from the Product Strategy Lead of Veeam Data Cloud about the direction and vision of the solution and what plans have been set in motion.

I presented the next session alongside Michael Cade on Kubernetes Virtualization, comparing apples to oranges by discussing the differences between traditional virtualization and how things work in the modern world of unified virtualization. This was a special session to me as it was my first time presenting at the V100 Summit, and it allowed me to share my knowledge with the wider community, which is the main goal of these events.

The day rounded up with a Traditional Dalrymple Toast to honor and welcome all to this amazing community.

Day 2

Day 2 continued with some epic sessions covering all things M365, Entra ID, and more.

Once again, the ability to clone myself eluded me, so I decided to join the session covering Enterprise applications. We learned about the latest and greatest in how Veeam protects enterprise applications such as SQL, Oracle, SAP HANA, and more, really diving into the nuts and bolts of how the technology works and why certain decisions were made.

This was followed up with a community-centric session where members were able to talk about some community VLings they were working on. This covered various topics which really demonstrated the breadth of knowledge of the community, ranging from custom products to MCP servers and AI to Chrome extensions that make life easier… this was simply an amazing session that again highlights why community is so important.

After the break, we dove straight into more sessions talking all things service provider with a fellow MVP, Chris based out of the USA, demoing some amazing content that will dramatically improve the experience for our VCSP partners.

I decided to attend another session regarding VDC, but this time around the UX design and how the new ONE UI portal is making a difference. The session was very free-flowing where feedback was paramount and the discussion very positive.

The day was rounded out with an AMA session where the Veeam Product Management team addressed any questions we may have had - and I do stress any question, which is unheard of - and I can honestly say this was one of the best AMA sessions we have ever had. I learned a lot from this session alone.

That wrapped up the sessions and also the epic 2-day event, which was a bit surreal and felt like a whirlwind that moved too fast. In just two short days, we had ingested so much information, met with colleagues and friends from around the world, and had some good beer. :)

Conclusion

I’m sure reading this you realize just how passionate I am about Veeam and its community. I can’t stress enough just how amazing it is, and I will forever be grateful to the team behind the scenes that created it and have managed to grow it into what it is today. It’s a true testament, and there is nothing else like it.