Virtualization is enabling self-service application management and data protection. Who is driving this need for self-service data protection? Is it the application owners who want to have end-to-end control of their applications, the backup admins who can no longer keep up with ever evolving business demands, or perhaps a combination of both?
The reason for self-service data protection varies by organization. Regardless of why and who, those applications moving to virtualization are in need of a quick and easy self-service way to access and protect their applications.
Self-service data protection enables the application owners to take control of protecting and provisioning applications when they want. This reminds me of the day when we were first introduced to self-service entertainment. In 1975 Sony launched the Betamax video recording system, making on-demand home movie viewing possible but expensive for the first time, do you remember the days of $60 for a movie ? In 1987 a new format, VHS, hit the market and won because “the whole product” did what people wanted at a price they were willing to pay. 
Like the introduction of VHS, the transformation to virtualization is allowing customers to have the application availability and services they want at a price that is more economical than the traditional physical infrastructure.
Data protection of your virtualized application is a necessity but not always included during the VM provisioning process. This means that you are provisioning applications that will not automatically be protected. This increases your risk of data loss.
The inclusion of data protection during the provisioning process is not necessarily overlooked. There is a lack of data protection vendors that provide integration with the provisioning interface.
EMC and VMware have bridged the data protection gap by ensuring data protection is automatically configured during the provisioning process, through the native VMware interface(s).
The EMC Avamar plug-in to VMware vRealize Automation (vRA) provides the end-to-end self-service solution you need to ensure your applications are protected and adhere to the corporate policies.
Avamar provides the data protection of applications and vRA automates the provisioning. The Avamar plug-in embeds data protection policies into the vRA blueprints. For those new to vRA, a blueprint specifies all the components of an app, how they are tied together, network and storage requirements, service dependencies, and more.
What is the relationship between self-service data protection and the VCR? The VCR started the revolution of at-home entertainment. Virtualization is leading the way to self-service administration and data protection. VMware application admins can now backup and recover applications whenever they want and to the server of their choice. All while using the native interface.
When watching this video, you can see for yourself how EMC and VMware have simplified the self-provisioning of applications with data protection.