-
Technology
-
Industry
-
Solutions
-
- ASSET MANAGEMENT
- CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT
- CYBER SECURITY
- DATA CENTER
- DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
- ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE
- ENTERPRISE DATA MANAGEMENT
- ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING
- ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT
- ENTERPRISE-GRADE WEB DATA SOLUTIONS
- FACILITY MANAGEMENT
- FIELD SERVICE
- IDENTITY AND ACCESS MANAGEMENT
- INFRASTRUCTURE
- IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT
- MANAGED IT SERVICES
- PAYMENT AND CARD
- PROJECT MANAGEMENT
- SOFTWARE TESTING
- STORAGE
- VIDEO SOLUTIONS
- WORKFLOW
-
-
Platforms
-
Functions
- Leadership Perspectives
- Innovation Insights
- Research
- Magazines
- News
- CXO Awards
Jaap van Duijvenbode, Co-Founder and Head of Product and Customer ExperienceEnterprises generate vast volumes of unstructured data, yet most of it delivers no operational value. Industry analysis shows approximately 68 percent of enterprise data is created once and never reused, while 80 to 90 percent remains unstructured and inactive. CIOs must still retain that “dark data” for compliance and institutional continuity. Storage infrastructure continues to expand, consuming budget while behaving like a paperweight, heavy, costly and disconnected from operational workflows.
CAEVES was built to optimize costs and restore control over how enterprise data is stored, governed and used, while enabling enterprise AI readiness.
How does CAEVES allow enterprises to modernize storage while keeping full control of their data?
CAEVES is delivered as a Microsoft ISV solution through the Microsoft Marketplace and deploys directly inside a customer’s environment, where data remains fully governed within the organization’s own Azure subscription, ensuring identity, encryption and compliance policies apply automatically. Unlike SaaS storage providers or proprietary cloud storage solutions that take custody of customer data, CAEVES operates entirely within the customer’s environment. Data never leaves the tenant, eliminating custody risk while preserving full control over infrastructure, cost, security and vendor relationships.
It transforms legacy file systems and archives through its software-defined storage instance, presenting a multi-protocol file system, caching and tiering data directly to Azure object storage and subsequently indexing that data to Microsoft 365 Search and Copilot. Data Lifecycle Management policies automatically move inactive data to lower-cost tiers while preserving accessibility.
Provisioning completed in under 30 minutes, and migration throughput performance reached approximately 500 terabytes per week using the organization’s existing Azure connectivity. Data remained fully secured, encrypted and governed within the customer’s Azure tenant throughout the transition.
“We believe that historical data forms the foundation of future business success. That’s why we built CAEVES to give customers full control over storage while keeping historical data usable for modern workflows,” says Jaap van Duijvenbode, co-founder and head of product and customer experience.
His perspective reflects nearly 30 years in infrastructure, beginning with hands-on software development in 1996 and continuing through the various IT industry waves, the dot-com era, virtualization, cloud transformation and now AI. As co-founder of Talon Storage Solutions, later acquired by NetApp, he saw a recurring pattern: every infrastructure or data refresh cycle left historical data locked in proprietary systems, increasing long-term cost exposure and dependency. CAEVES was designed to correct that imbalance by ensuring enterprises retain control while modernizing storage.
Demonstrating Immediate Cost and Operational Impact
What measurable impact can organizations expect when modernizing legacy storage with CAEVES?
A global engineering firm with approximately 20,000 employees implemented CAEVES to migrate approximately three petabytes of legacy archive storage into Azure object storage. Prior to migration, the organization spent approximately $175,000 per month maintaining a cloud-based file system and archive infrastructure. After deployment, costs dropped to roughly $43,750 per month, reducing storage expense by nearly 70 percent while preserving governance and accessibility.
We believe that historical data forms the foundation of future business success. That’s why we built CAEVES to give customers full control over storage while keeping historical data usable for modern workflows.
Provisioning completed in under 30 minutes, and migration throughput performance reached approximately 500 terabytes per week using the organization’s existing Azure connectivity. Data remained fully secured, encrypted and governed within the customer’s Azure tenant throughout the transition.
Operational visibility improved immediately. IT teams and knowledge users could search across petabytes of historical data using Microsoft 365 Search and Copilot, and retrieve information in seconds rather than hours. By consolidating storage into Azure object storage under customer control, the organization established a scalable and predictable storage architecture aligned with long-term investment planning.
Enabling AI Within Enterprise Control
How does CAEVES prepare enterprise data environments for AI adoption?
Many organizations recognize AI’s potential but struggle to operationalize it because historical data remains isolated. CAEVES resolves that barrier by connecting governed storage directly to Microsoft-native AI services such as Microsoft 365 Search and Copilot.
Because CAEVES operates entirely within the customer’s Azure tenant, AI workflows execute against data that remains fully governed by the organization. No external processing, custody transfer, expensive RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) infrastructure or data duplication is required. Existing governance, security and compliance frameworks continue to apply automatically. Organizations activate AI capabilities without introducing dependency or surrendering control.
Establishing a Predictable and Independent Storage Strategy
How does CAEVES help CIOs regain control over long-term storage economics?
Recognition as the Top AI-Ready Deep Storage Solution 2026 reflects CAEVES’s role in helping CIOs regain control over storage economics. Organizations reduce costs, eliminate vendor lock-in and activate historical data while maintaining governance and compliance.
More importantly, CAEVES enables storage strategies that extend beyond traditional three- to five-year investment cycles. By keeping data inside the customer’s Azure tenant, organizations gain predictable storage economics, eliminate vendor lock-in and maintain full control over infrastructure, governance and long-term cost planning.
Intelligent Deep Storage for the AI Era
Enterprise data growth has outpaced most modernization strategies. Large organizations now manage petabytes of unstructured information accumulated across legacy systems, cloud file services and archival platforms. A significant share of that data is generated once and rarely accessed again, yet it remains subject to retention, compliance and security requirements. The result is an expanding cost base tied to storage, with limited business visibility.
Cloud migration addressed part of the problem by consolidating infrastructure and shifting capital expenditure into subscription models. However, it also introduced new layers of complexity. Data sprawl across file systems, object stores and archive tiers often leaves CIO teams with limited insight into what they own, what it costs and how it can be used. AI ambitions compound this challenge. Boards expect historical information to inform analytics, copilots and automation initiatives, yet most deep archives remain disconnected from search and intelligence services.
An effective deep storage strategy must address three intersecting realities. Cost governance is central. Organizations cannot continue to house dormant data on premium tiers designed for active workloads. Policy-driven tiering, lifecycle management and predictable economics are essential if storage is to scale without eroding budgets. Accessibility is equally critical. Archives that cannot be searched or surfaced through enterprise tools offer little strategic value. Storage must integrate with widely adopted productivity and AI ecosystems so historical data becomes discoverable and usable. Control underpins both objectives. Data sovereignty, tenant isolation and alignment with existing governance frameworks have become decisive factors, particularly for enterprises operating under strict regulatory regimes or geopolitical constraints.
These requirements point toward a model where deep storage is not an external repository but an intelligent layer embedded within the enterprise cloud environment. Data should remain under the organization’s subscription, governed by its encryption, permissions and compliance policies. The storage architecture should support object-based economics while preserving familiar file-system access and multi-protocol ingestion. Integration with hyperscaler services must be native rather than bolted on, ensuring that search, AI workflows and lifecycle automation function without complex replatforming.
CAEVES exemplifies this approach. Built specifically for Microsoft environments, it overlays intelligence on Azure object storage within the customer’s own tenant. Instead of taking custody of data, it provides software that ingests legacy workloads, applies policy-based tiering and connects deep archives to Microsoft 365 Search and Copilot. Deployment can be provisioned rapidly, and migration performance supports petabyte-scale transitions.
A recent global engineering firm migrated 2.5 petabytes from a monolithic cloud file platform into CAEVES, backed by Azure object storage. Monthly storage expense fell from roughly $175,000 to about $43,750, delivering close to 70 percent cost reduction while improving search from hours to seconds. IT teams gained snapshot capability, forensic visibility and direct integration with AI-driven reporting, all without relinquishing data control.
For executives responsible for long-term data strategy, CAEVES presents a disciplined path to intelligent deep storage. It aligns cost efficiency with Azure-native governance, keeps data inside the enterprise tenant and converts dark archives into AI-ready assets. Within Microsoft-centric environments, it stands out as a considered choice for organizations intent on uniting cost control, accessibility and sustained control over their information estate....Read more
Company
CAEVES
Management
Jaap van Duijvenbode, Co-Founder and Head of Product and Customer Experience
Description
CAEVES transforms legacy unstructured data into AI-ready assets on Microsoft Azure, slashing storage costs by up to 70 percent through intelligent tiering and caching to Azure object storage. Native Microsoft Copilot integration unlocks dark data for M365 search, with automated backups, multi-protocol file access and no vendor lock-in; it deploys in under 30 minutes. Enterprises gain compliant, searchable deep storage from edge to cloud.
