Ar has been awarded the “Fastest Growth of the Year 2025” at the Veeam ProPartner Summit 2026 held in Lisbon. The award recognizes the partner with the highest growth over the past year within the Veeam ecosystem in the Iberian region, highlighting an area that is gaining importance in companies: data protection, availability, and recovery.
The distinction was presented to Pedro Freire from the Ar team at an event bringing together tech partners, specialists, and Veeam channel leaders. The Portuguese company, part of Aire, positions this recognition within a trajectory focused on cloud services, backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity solutions for organizations that need to safeguard their systems against outages, human errors, cyberattacks, or data loss.
Recognition for growth in cloud and data protection
The “Fastest Growth of the Year 2025” award honors the partner with the most growth over the past year but is not solely a business metric. According to information published by Ar, Veeam also considered innovation ability, consistency in providing cloud services, and commitment to data protection and availability solutions.
The context helps explain why such recognitions are more significant than a few years ago. Business continuity is no longer solely a technical concern. Rising ransomware threats, reliance on SaaS applications, adoption of hybrid architectures, and widespread use of Microsoft 365 have compelled many companies to rethink their backup and recovery strategies. Having a copy is not enough if restoration cannot be performed promptly, reliably, and with clear traceability.
During the Veeam ProPartner Summit 2026, topics such as data resilience, hybrid cloud, SaaS transformation, security, and business continuity were discussed. These areas see cloud providers and managed service partners playing an increasingly visible role, as many companies prefer not to handle the complexities of protecting distributed environments alone.
Ar has structured part of its offerings around backup and disaster recovery services, backup for Microsoft 365 and Virtual Data Center—a private cloud platform designed to give IT teams greater flexibility and control. The company emphasizes that its strategy remains focused on high-performance cloud services aimed at ensuring operational continuity for clients.
Data resilience: a priority for businesses and channels
The award comes at a time when data protection has become a strategic priority for management. It’s no longer just about preventing data file loss. Companies need to recover full applications, user environments, databases, identities, configurations, and critical services in increasingly complex scenarios.
Veeam specifically emphasizes this message of resilience, data security, and protection of modern architectures. At VeeamON 2026, the company highlights topics such as AI-driven system protection, resilience in modern architectures, cyberattack recovery, and unified data protection across on-premise, cloud, and SaaS environments.
For partners, this shift presents opportunities but also rising expectations. Clients are seeking services that go beyond deploying a backup tool—designing policies, conducting restoration tests, disaster recovery, cost management, compliance, and operational support are now key components. In this landscape, specialization often matters more than sheer license volume.
Ar has previously received multiple recognitions within the Veeam ecosystem. Between 2020 and 2022, it was named Best Cloud & Service Provider Partner in Portugal. In 2023, it was recognized for the highest growth in cloud solutions across the Iberian Peninsula, and in 2024, it again received the VSCP award, according to the company. The 2025 award continues this pattern of sustained presence in the Veeam channel.
Pedro Freire commented that receiving this recognition from Veeam is “a great pride for the Ar team,” linking the award to the company’s work, dedication, and commitment to delivering reliable cloud solutions aligned with customer needs. His statement encapsulates the message Ar aims to convey: growth, yes, but based on services that are designed to meet actual operational requirements.
Ar’s role within Aire’s technological strategy
Ar provides cloud, unified communications, connectivity, and managed services for SMEs, large enterprises, public administrations, and telecom operators in Portugal and Spain. Its market position in the Iberian Peninsula was strengthened with the acquisition of AR Telecom by Aire Networks in 2021, marking the group’s entry into Portugal and its first significant phase of international expansion.
Since then, Aire has moved towards a more integrated technological offering, including cloud, telecom, UCaaS, cybersecurity, and managed services. In 2026, the group announced a rebranding to a single brand, aimed at providing greater coherence to a portfolio that has expanded through organic growth and acquisitions.
In this context, the award received by Ar signifies more than a punctual recognition; it reinforces the importance of cloud business and data protection within Aire’s technological proposal in the Iberian market. It confirms that the market continues to demand providers capable of combining infrastructure, managed services, and strategic partnerships with specialized vendors.
The pressure on corporate data will not lessen. Companies handle increasing amounts of information, depend on more platforms, and have less tolerance for prolonged outages. Partners that can demonstrate expertise, responsiveness, and well-designed recovery services will find more opportunities as conversations extend beyond technical teams into executive, financial, and risk management areas.
Frequently Asked Questions
What award did Ar receive from Veeam?
Ar received the “Fastest Growth of the Year 2025” at the Veeam ProPartner Summit 2026 in Lisbon.
What does this award recognize?
It recognizes the partner with the highest growth over the past year, considering innovation, consistency in cloud services, and commitment to data protection and availability.
What services does Ar offer in the cloud space?
Its solutions include backup and disaster recovery, Microsoft 365 backup, Virtual Data Center, as well as cloud, connectivity, UCaaS, and managed services.
Why is data protection important for companies?
Because organizations increasingly rely on digital applications, data, and services. A solid backup and recovery strategy helps minimize the impact of failures, cyberattacks, or operational disruptions.