Enterprises today are under growing pressure to manage increasing volumes of sensitive data while staying ahead of complex regulatory requirements and rising infrastructure costs. For many, the challenge lies in finding a solution that balances security, compliance, and cost-efficiency, without adding operational complexity.
In this TechBullion Q&A, we speak with David Byrnes, VP of Global Channels at Kiteworks, and Laurie Mitchell, SVP of Global Marketing at Wasabi Technologies, about their newly formed partnership. They explain how customer demand shaped the collaboration, the unique value their integrated solution brings to market, and why it’s particularly relevant for industries like healthcare, finance, legal, and government. From data sovereignty and third-party risk to IT simplification and cost savings, they break down how Wasabi and Kiteworks are helping organizations do more, with less risk.
What specific market demand or customer pain points led to the partnership between Wasabi and Kiteworks?
Laurie Mitchell: In speaking with our customers, especially those operating in regulated industries, we’ve consistently heard two key pain points: rising cloud storage costs and the growing burden of meeting multiple regulatory compliance requirements. Many organizations are struggling with how to handle secure, compliant data while staying within their storage budgets, which are typically unpredictable. At Wasabi, we believe organizations should have a simple choice, which is access to high-performance cloud storage that meets compliance needs without the penalty of hidden costs or unpredictable fees.
David Byrnes: Kiteworks’ customers echo the same frustration. Organizations are facing a flood of sensitive data flowing across borders, systems, and platforms, and the risk management burden is rising accordingly. Our mission is to reduce that risk without adding operational complexity. The opportunity to work with Wasabi came at the right time: Their pricing model and storage performance perfectly complement our governance and security-first approach.
How does this partnership create value beyond what Wasabi and Kiteworks could deliver independently?
David Byrnes: This is truly a case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. With Wasabi and Kiteworks, organizations get the benefit of seamless integration across storage and secure file transfer. Kiteworks Private Data Network adds governance, visibility, and auditability to Wasabi’s scalable storage layer. By embedding compliance into every file interaction, not just storage, we offer full life-cycle control that’s unmatched by either solution on its own.
Laurie Mitchell: The power of this partnership lies in its simplicity and impact. Our customers looking to move data to Wasabi don’t need to stitch together disparate tools or worry about gaps in security between storage and transfer. We eliminate the operational silos that typically exist between cloud infrastructure and data protection platforms. Together, we’re delivering a turnkey solution that helps IT and security teams do more with less.
Kiteworks and Wasabi both emphasize security and compliance. Can you walk us through how the joint solution strengthens those capabilities for customers?
David Byrnes: Security and compliance are foundational to our design philosophy. The Kiteworks platform is built around a hardened virtual appliance with zero-trust interfaces, strong encryption, and granular policy controls. When customers integrate with Wasabi’s secure cloud storage, they maintain those protections at every stage of the data life cycle, from ingestion to sharing and archiving. It’s about reducing risk exposure and eliminating audit gaps.
Laurie Mitchell: Wasabi takes a no-compromise approach to data security. Our infrastructure is designed to support compliance standards like HIPAA, GDPR, FERPA, and more. By combining our secure storage with Kiteworks’ policy enforcement and audit logging, customers get an end-to-end compliance posture that’s both automated and auditable. It’s a win for any organization that regularly handles sensitive data.
How does the Kiteworks Private Data Network integrate with Wasabi’s hot cloud storage in practice?
David Byrnes: Integration is designed to be straightforward. Customers can configure secure, automated file transfers using our form-based workflow designer. It allows them to define when and how data is moved into Wasabi storage, who can access it, and what policies govern those actions. With Kiteworks, organizations also get centralized audit trails and dashboards to monitor all data flows, which simplifies compliance reporting.
Laurie Mitchell: One of the most valuable aspects for customers is how seamlessly this process works. Wasabi provides high-speed, scalable cloud storage and Kiteworks ensures that every file interaction, even during migration, is encrypted, governed, and tracked. Customers don’t have to choose between speed, affordability, or control. Because Wasabi has no egress or API fees, the integrated solution delivers all three.
How does the joint solution address the growing regulatory compliance challenges that organizations face in 2025?
Laurie Mitchell: Today’s regulatory landscape is exceptionally complex. With the EU Data Act becoming applicable in September 2025 and a matrix of requirements spanning GDPR, NIS 2, and numerous other frameworks, organizations need governance solutions that can adapt to different jurisdictions. Our joint solution provides the controls, visibility, and audit trails necessary to demonstrate compliance across these frameworks, reducing the administrative burden that many organizations struggle with.
David Byrnes: The compliance burden has become overwhelming for many organizations. According to recent data, organizations juggle at least six regulatory frameworks simultaneously, with considerable overlap but critical differences in requirements. Our integrated solution helps simplify this complexity through unified management and policy enforcement. This becomes particularly valuable as we see the financial impact of noncompliance rising dramatically. Recent major breaches have incurred average financial impacts exceeding $20 billion, which is highlighted in our Top 11 Data Breaches in 2024 Report.
How significant is the TCO advantage with this joint solution, especially for large enterprises?
Laurie Mitchell: The financial advantage is significant. With no data egress fees and a pricing structure that’s up to 80% less than traditional hyperscalers, Wasabi provides an extremely affordable and completely predictable cost model. In other solutions, the variable fees for data egress and API request can significantly drive storage way over budget. In fact, we recently found that 62% of organizations globally exceeded their cloud storage budgets last year. Wasabi is particularly appealing to enterprises managing petabytes of data and facing budget constraints. When paired with Kiteworks, customers also reduce additional costs associated with breach remediation, regulatory fines, and manual compliance audits.
David Byrnes: Beyond direct storage savings, there’s a long-term ROI from reduced risk exposure. A single data breach can cost millions in regulatory penalties and reputational damage. By using Kiteworks to manage and audit every file transfer and access event, customers gain a defensible compliance posture. That’s a layer of value that compounds over time, and it’s especially critical in sectors like healthcare, financial services, and legal.
In what ways does the integration reduce IT complexity and administrative overhead for organizations with limited resources?
David Byrnes: Many organizations struggle with “tool sprawl,” dozens of disconnected platforms that don’t talk to each other. Our joint solution offers a consolidated interface for managing file transfers, storage, access controls, and reporting. IT teams don’t need to waste time integrating multiple point solutions or jumping between dashboards. Everything they need is in one place, with automation built in.
Laurie Mitchell: For IT administrators, the simplicity of Wasabi’s flat pricing and lack of complex tiering structures means fewer surprises and less configuration overhead. Combine that with Kiteworks’ automation and policy templates, and even lean IT teams can quickly deploy and manage a highly secure, compliant environment. It’s a scalable solution that grows with the organization, not against it.
How does the partnership help organizations manage third-party and supply chain risk?
David Byrnes: Third-party and supply chain vulnerabilities were the gateway for 64% of major breaches in 2024, according to recent research. Our joint solution addresses this by providing comprehensive visibility into how sensitive data is shared with external parties. The Private Data Network approach enables organizations to maintain controls and audit capabilities even when data crosses organizational boundaries, which is critical for mitigating these supply chain risks.
Laurie Mitchell: We recognize that organizations are increasingly interconnected. The average enterprise shares sensitive data with over 300 third parties, each representing a potential vulnerability. By combining secure storage with robust governance, we’re helping organizations strengthen these connections without creating new risks. This is increasingly important as regulatory frameworks hold organizations accountable for their entire data supply chain.
What are some standout use cases or industries where this integration provides the most immediate impact?
David Byrnes: Healthcare providers handling PHI, financial institutions managing client records, and government agencies working with classified or sensitive data are ideal candidates. These sectors all have stringent data protection requirements and face enormous fines for noncompliance. Kiteworks and Wasabi deliver the governance and auditability they need, without the storage and operational costs they dread.
Laurie Mitchell: We’re also seeing traction in media and entertainment, where large files need to be moved and stored quickly and securely, often across different production teams. Education is another sector where limited budgets make data storage challenging across school systems and at colleges and universities, especially those with research departments. With Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage, these institutions are able to handle the growth of data-hungry use cases today’s learning environments demand by delivering the simplest, most economical cloud storage for educational facilities’ backup, archiving, and other needs.
How does the joint solution help organizations address data sovereignty requirements?
Laurie Mitchell: Data residency obligations create significant challenges for global organizations, with different regions imposing overlapping requirements. Our solution enables configurable geographic storage restrictions, ensuring compliance with requirements like GDPR’s cross-border transfer limitations or data sovereignty laws. This granular control of data storage location is increasingly valuable as regulatory proliferation continues worldwide.
David Byrnes: The Private Data Network approach gives organizations the deployment flexibility they need to adapt to these complex requirements. According to recent industry research, 43% of organizations have implemented regionalized deployment models to address conflicting data localization requirements, with significant cost savings compared to maintaining entirely separate systems. Our joint solution makes this approach more accessible and cost-effective.
How does the joint solution benefit Managed Service Providers (MSPs), and what kinds of new services can they now offer?
Laurie Mitchell: MSPs are looking for ways to go beyond commodity storage. This integration allows them to offer secure file transfer, audit logging, governance, and storage as a bundled service targeted at specific industries. They can now position themselves as strategic advisors, not just resellers. That means higher-value contracts, better margins, and stronger customer retention.
David Byrnes: With the growing emphasis on compliance and data sovereignty, MSPs need solutions that help their customers meet these demands. Kiteworks enables them to deliver differentiated services like Compliance-as-a-Service or managed risk governance. It’s a real opportunity to rise above the price wars and offer something that drives business outcomes.
What’s next for this partnership? Are there plans to deepen integration or expand capabilities?
David Byrnes: Yes, we see this as just the beginning. We’re exploring enhanced metadata tagging, deeper API integrations for real-time data orchestration, and even integrations with AI-based risk analytics. As data usage evolves, so too must the controls that govern it. We’re committed to staying ahead of that curve.
Laurie Mitchell: I agree this is just the beginning and we are like-minded partners focused on continuous innovation and evolution to AI intelligent storage. We are excited to continue our partnership with Kiteworks to ensure that organizations have the tools to not only store and protect their data, but to leverage it strategically.
