Veeam unveils secure AI access to backups with Anthropic MCP

Veeam Software has announced new capabilities that allow artificial intelligence systems to securely access and use data stored in its backup repositories.

The development, revealed at the company's annual VeeamON conference, comes through support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard developed by Anthropic.

The move positions Veeam as a critical enabler of AI innovation within enterprises, transforming its core mission from simply protecting data to unlocking its strategic potential.

"We're not just backing up data anymore – we're opening it up for intelligence," said Niraj Tolia, Chief Technology Officer at Veeam. "By supporting the Model Context Protocol, customers can now safely connect Veeam-protected data to the AI tools of their choice. Whether it's internal copilots, vector databases, or LLMs, Veeam ensures data is AI-ready, portable, and protected."

The integration of MCP means organisations can now apply natural language queries to discover and retrieve documents, summarise conversations from archived emails or support tickets, automate compliance and e-discovery, and enrich AI agents with enterprise-specific context.

These capabilities represent more than technical enhancements, according to Veeam. They mark a shift in how businesses view their stored data – from passive archives to active sources of intelligence.

As the company explained, "With MCP, Veeam enables seamless integration between its trusted data resilience platform and customers' AI applications, allowing data that was once just stored to now drive real-time value."

The MCP standard was developed to link AI agents with organisational systems and data repositories. With its adoption, Veeam becomes what it describes as a "universal bridge" between mission-critical backup data and enterprise AI platforms, including Anthropic's Claude and proprietary large language models (LLMs) developed by customers.

According to Veeam, MCP-powered access brings three primary benefits: enhanced data accessibility, improved decision-making, and frictionless integration. The protocol enables AI agents to conduct context-aware searches through both structured and unstructured data, improving the speed and accuracy of AI outputs while eliminating the need for custom integrations.

The new integration is part of a broader AI vision from Veeam, structured around five strategic pillars:

1. AI Infrastructure Resilience – Ensuring that AI applications, models, and associated data are protected and resilient, just like other business-critical systems.
2. Data Intelligence – Unlocking additional value from data protected by Veeam, whether it's created by customers, delivered through partners, or provided by Veeam itself.
3. Data Security – Enhancing security using advanced AI and machine learning techniques embedded in Veeam's existing malware, ransomware, and threat detection features.
4. Admin Assist – Providing backup administrators with AI-driven support and recommendations to streamline management tasks.
5. Data Resilience Operations – Using intelligent policy creation, risk-based analysis, and sensitive data handling to optimise backup and recovery operations.

The announcement underscores Veeam's commitment to evolving from a backup provider to a central player in the AI transformation of enterprise data.

With headquarters in Seattle and operations in more than 30 countries, Veeam serves over 550,000 customers globally, including a majority of Global 2000 companies.