Symantec, CommVault and IBM “Champions” in Backup Software

A dramatic swell in virtualization is getting the credit for a surge in host server workload density with array integration blurring the lines between backup and CDP, according to Info-Tech Research Group, Inc.

In the Enterprise Backup Software Vendor Landscape report, published by Info-Tech Research Group, Symantec, CommVault and IBM are ranked as Champions in a market where an explosion of data has demanded a fundamental change.

     Backup Software Vendor Landscape 2012
            (Source: Info-Tech Research Group)

"Backup is boring. It’s supposed to be boring because it is a background function that supports foreground business-enabling processes and only becomes interesting if it fails. The market is addressing challenges such as virtualization and data growth to keep backup from getting ‘interesting’,"said John Sloan, lead research analyst for Info-Tech Research Group. "Through our research, we found that deduplication and the cloud are key elements in saving money, with deduplication being essential to future advances in backup."

According to the report, Champion vendor, Symantec is strong in virtual machine protection capabilities, with Info-Tech clients praising the vendor for its monitoring and reporting capabilities. Being the largest provider of security software in the world, Symantec offers uniquely priced software and hardware separately to allow customers to capitalize on existing licenses. Their pricing also earned them the Value Award.

CommVault, another Champion in the report, offers ease of use and standout storage array integration. With a comprehensive portfolio of data management and compliance products, CommVault maintains a strong reputation for customer support. Their successful introduction of a capacity-based licensing option in 2011, helped simplify customers’ backup budgeting.

IBM Tivoli Storage Manager is noted to have extremely good scalability, with the most recent release enabling a single TSM server to manage up to four billion objects. According to the report, TSM is traditionally thought of as backup software for the large enterprise, but is now focusing efforts on improving usability to make the solution accessible to leaner IT staffs.

Capturing the Innovation Award, NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup is an interesting solution that delivers extremely short backup windows and virtual restore times through tight integration with NetApp storage. Ranked as Innovator in the report, one of the solution’s strong points is the ease of use, with a simplified GUI.