There’s a lot of talk about modernization – Cloud, AI, automation, security transformation. But what does modernization actually look like when you’re responsible for keeping systems running, data protected, and recovery viable under pressure?
In this episode of STRIVE, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Gilman Treantos – a 25-year IT veteran whose career spans everything from mainframes to modern cyber resilience architecture. This conversation provides a practitioner’s view of what modernization really means when outages, ransomware, and operational risk are part of the daily equation.
Watch the full episode.
Key Takeaways: What Modern Cyber Readiness Actually Requires
- Modernization isn’t about new tools – it’s about resilient architecture. Technology evolves, but recovery discipline, testing, and cross-team coordination are what separate reactive organizations from resilient ones.
- Cyber readiness demands collaboration between security and infrastructure. Silos create blind spots. Unified visibility and shared responsibility can create speed in recovery.
- Backup tools are more powerful than most teams realize. When used creatively, they can support large-scale migrations, isolated recovery, and transitions designed to minimize data loss.
- Testing is non-negotiable. A recovery plan that hasn’t been rehearsed is a liability, not a strategy.
- Career resilience mirrors technical resilience. Proactivity, curiosity, and willingness to solve hard problems are as critical as any platform.
From Blockbuster to Cyber Resilience
Gilman’s journey didn’t start in a war room or a security operations center. It started at Blockbuster.
Without formal IT training, he leaned into troubleshooting. That curiosity became mainframe work. That work became distributed systems. That evolved into data protection and cyber resilience leadership.
What stands out isn’t the career arc – it’s the mindset. He built a reputation by taking on the problems no one else wanted. Fixing fragile systems. Supporting overlooked initiatives. Solving issues that crossed organizational boundaries.
That mentality translates directly to modernization, because modern cyber readiness is built by people willing to dig into uncomfortable complexity.
Modernization Under Pressure
One of the most compelling parts of the episode is a real-world example: evacuating a remote data center in a single night. No data loss. No prolonged downtime. No operational chaos.
By leveraging Commvault LiveSync in a creative way, Gilman and his team were able to migrate infrastructure quickly and cost-effectively – using capabilities that weren’t originally designed for that exact scenario.
That’s modernization in practice.
The House of Cards Problem
As organizations scale, permissions sprawl. Backup systems grow complex. Security tools layer on top of infrastructure without full alignment. Over time, environments become fragile.
Gilman describes this dynamic as something many teams underestimate: a slow accumulation of technical and operational debt. Modernization, in his view, isn’t just upgrading platforms. It’s simplifying architecture, improving visibility, and breaking silos between cybersecurity and infrastructure teams.
Cyber readiness means:
- Security and backup teams share telemetry.
- Recovery environments are isolated and tested.
- Malware detection extends beyond primary workflows.
- Infrastructure decisions consider recovery speed.
This is where modernization and resilience intersect.
Threats Are Evolving. So Must Recovery.
Ransomware isn’t slowing down. Threat actors are more sophisticated. Malware hides inside legitimate workflows. Gilman’s perspective is blunt: Preparation must be proactive.
He advocates for:
- Regular disaster recovery testing
- Isolated recovery environments ready to activate
- Anomaly detection tools layered into backup processes
- Cross-team drills that simulate real-world disruption
Watch the Full Episode
Check out our full STRIVE conversation to learn:
- How Gilman evolved his approach to data protection over 25 years.
- The details behind migration designed to minimize data loss.
- Why collaboration between security and infrastructure is essential.
- Practical advice for resilience professionals.
- What modernization really demands in today’s threat landscape.
If you care about resilience, recovery, or leading IT through uncertainty, this is 20 minutes well spent.
FAQs
Q: What does “modernization” mean in the context of cyber readiness?
A: It means building resilient, testable, and collaborative systems that can recover quickly under real-world pressure – not just upgrading to newer platforms.
Q: Why is collaboration between security and infrastructure teams so important?
A: Because recovery depends on shared visibility. Security detects threats, but infrastructure enables restoration. Without alignment, response slows and risk increases.
Q: How can backup tools support modernization beyond recovery?
A: When used creatively, they can enable data center migrations, isolated recovery environments, anomaly detection, and large-scale operational shifts.
Q: How often should disaster recovery environments be tested?
A: Regular testing – ideally quarterly or aligned with major infrastructure changes – builds confidence and reveals gaps before an actual incident.
Chris Mierzwa is Senior Director, Portfolio Marketing, at Commvault.
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