Interview: Wasabi’s CMO on Cloud Storage for the AI Era, Object Storage 2.0, and Global Expansion

Wasabi Technologies is carving a distinctive path in the cloud storage industry as a pure play provider, capitalizing on affordability, scalability, and a sharp focus on AI-driven workloads. In this conversation, Storagenews.ai sat down with Michael Welts, Chief Marketing Officer at Wasabi, to discuss the company’s strategy, emerging technology bets, and upcoming market moves.

Storagenews: Michael, great to have you. Let’s start with Wasabi’s high-level vision. What’s driving your strategy right now?

Michael Welts (MW): Thanks, Santosh. Our vision is straightforward: scale as fast as possible to meet the surging demand for affordable, high-performance cloud storage. We’re seeing tremendous growth, especially with AI workloads, which require massive volumes of reliable, low-cost storage. What sets us apart is that we’re a pure play cloud storage company. We don’t try to be everything to everyone — we focus solely on storage and do it exceptionally well. That clarity allows us to expand fast, especially through strong partnerships.

Storagenews: Speaking of expansion, you’ve had success in the backup space, but I understand you’re now shifting gears toward larger enterprises. Can you walk us through your pricing and marketplace strategy?

MW: Absolutely. Our goal has always been to commoditize cloud storage and make it available to everyone, not just large enterprises with deep pockets. Price/Performance is still relevant for everyone today. Wasabi has evolved into a storage target for several apps that drive business. We’re best known for our flat, predictable pricing, no egress charges, no API call charges. But we’ve also added new options like Reserve Capacity Storage, which offers committed capacity at discounted rates. This helps both customers and us with predictability.

We’ve traditionally served the mid-market very well, but now we’re expanding into the enterprise by partnering with bigger players. Our recent collaboration with IBM is a key example — it allows us to integrate into broader cloud suites and meet enterprise-grade expectations.

Storagenews: You mentioned partnerships. Tell me more about your new alliance with Dell and how it plays into the AI story.

MW: That’s right — our partnership with Dell launched April 8th. Dell customers can now access Wasabi with Dell ObjectScale storage-as-a-service in the Wasabi cloud or use it as cost-efficient cloud destination. It’s a big step forward in our AI strategy. AI workloads create huge volumes of data, and storing that efficiently requires a platform that’s scalable, reliable, and cost-effective. That’s where Wasabi comes in.

We’re also working on an updated version of our AI-focused recognition technology Wasabi AiR, set for release later this year. We see this as a major part of our new messaging around what we call Object Storage 2.0 — a next-gen approach that supports intelligent data processing at scale.

Storagenews:  Let’s dig into Object Storage 2.0. What does “intelligence” mean in this context?

MW: Good question. Object storage is evolving from being just a passive repository into a foundation for active content management and metadata-driven intelligence. We’re building in capabilities that allow customers to extract insights, search content, and use data for decision-making. It’s about making storage not just a destination, but an enabler for AI, analytics, and digital transformation.

For example, we’re doubling down on sports, media, and entertainment, making it more searchable and indexable. This fundamentally transforms the fan engagement experience. The intelligence we’re building is closely tied to consumer behavior. Everything gets tagged and indexed through Wasabi AiR, and when you combine that with data on consumer trends, it becomes a powerful tool. We can even push targeted discounts based on that insight.

We believe these innovations will elevate how secure object storage can be, especially in regulated industries and surveillance-heavy environments.

Storagenews:  Surveillance is a fast-growing segment. How’s Wasabi performing in that space?

MW: The surveillance market is rapidly evolving, and security companies are finally making the shift to the cloud. In fact, some cloud service providers are now building cloud storage capabilities directly into their cameras. We’re ahead of the curve here—hyperscale’s tried to enter the space, but we’ve gained real traction. Over the past few quarters, we’ve seen a huge growth in object storage deployments specifically for surveillance use cases.”

Storagenews:  How do plan to further expand your backup storage market?

MW: We’re exploring several initiatives in this area, and you’ll hear more soon. One important element is our Account Control Manager, which is a multi-tenant platform that lets MSPs and resellers manage storage across clients — and bundle backup with it for added value.

Storagenews:  Let’s close with growth. Where are you headed next geographically?

MW: Our growth trajectory is ahead of the market. We’re strong in North America and Europe, and we’re now expanding rapidly in APAC, Latin America, and the ASEAN region.

Compliance is also a major differentiator — we’re aligned with major security standards. Today, we’re storing multiple exabytes of data, and we’re just getting started.

Storagenews:  Thanks, Michael. Looking forward to seeing how Wasabi shapes the future of cloud storage.

Wasabi at a Glance

• 15 Storage Regions​ worldwide
• 16,000+ Channel Partners​
• Customers in over 100+ Countries​
• 450+ Employees​
• $538 Million in Funding​
• Multiple Exabytes of Storage Deployed​