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Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM Storage Protect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data ...
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (1st), Disk Based Backup Systems (1st)
IBM Storage Protect
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Backup and Recovery (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) and IBM Storage Protect aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is designed for Deduplication Software and holds a mindshare of 26.6%, down 29.0% compared to last year.
IBM Storage Protect, on the other hand, focuses on Backup and Recovery, holds 2.0% mindshare, down 2.3% since last year.
Deduplication Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)26.6%
HPE StoreOnce18.6%
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager13.7%
Other41.099999999999994%
Deduplication Software
Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM Storage Protect2.0%
Veeam Data Platform10.0%
Commvault Cloud5.5%
Other82.5%
Backup and Recovery
 

Q&A Highlights

AaaAaa5 - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 05, 2020
 

Featured Reviews

Faisal_Zia - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers efficient data management with robust features and reliable performance
Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) can be improved in terms of price. While Dell is providing a proper device, other solutions, such as Symantec, can replicate their data through any NAS storage. Although their deduplication and compression might not be as effective, they can still accomplish the task. Medium-level and SME-level businesses can easily utilize this feature, but Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is a relatively expensive solution to propose to customers.
Syed Habib - PeerSpot reviewer
Manageable and comprehensive and integrates robust backup features for core banking
It's adequate for my core banking, however, I am looking for another solution for all systems. It is not compatible with other operating systems like Windows or Linux, and lacks a consolidated dashboard from Browser Spectrum. This is why I am searching for another solution. The product also lacks any centralized graphical user interface (GUI), such as Jarek Pod, and I am limited to using a console-based text user interface, which my local partner handles completely.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It works within backup windows and has got good deduplication."
"It's very easy to use the domain once it's been set up. The interface is also user-friendly."
"The backup is very secure. The deduplication using EMC is very good. We are able to make systems and handle random cloning. EMC is a very stable solution for making backups."
"The tool's performance is very good. DD Boost can improve its performance and backup."
"The most valuable feature of Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is its deduplication capability."
"It's deduplication and faster recovery that are the key features."
"The most valuable features of Dell PowerProtect DD are reduplication and compression. It provides a lot of data savings for backups. Additionally, the Dell PowerProtect DD solution offers a bundled backup software and storage option. If desired, users can also connect to cloud technology to create an additional copy of their data in the cloud. This solution supports synchronization with various cloud vendors, including Azure and AWS."
"The deduplication feature is the most valuable part of the solution."
"It protects our data. That is what it is there for."
"The business value comes from the capability to overcome data losses."
"We can use it with any storage for the back-end to save data."
"The feature that I have found the most valuable is that IBM Spectrum Protect is highly integrated with IBM ESS. In addition, it allows us to back up our virtual servers directly to take VM snapshots. It runs on Linux as well."
"The customization and the ability to backup across all platforms are the most valuable features."
"Since the technology is reliable, it simplifies the backup process significantly. Now, our focus can primarily be on managing full backups and creating some offline copies."
"With data deduplication and compression, we are reducing our overall storage footprint for our disk histories. Therefore, we are reducing the actual cost of the disk for our data protection and data backups."
"IBM Spectrum Protect is a scalable solution."
 

Cons

"The Data Domain solution appliance is quite expensive."
"I would like to see some kind of integration with the ransomware in the next release."
"The software from Dell that can be used to operate Data Domain needs to have enhancements made to the user interface. It is too complex."
"It helps if you have in-depth knowledge in order to use it correctly."
"The only problem is that it's more expensive than any other vendors available in the market."
"If we lose the admin password, Dell always asks for separate charges."
"The downside of PowerProtect's flexibility is that you have so many options. It can be a little confusing. It's like having a car with too many buttons on the dash. You can do so much with it, but it takes some time to learn what everything does."
"Improvement is needed in terms of telemetry and high availability as the high availability feature is only present in the higher models of Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)."
"I should be able to backup Linux. I would like SUSE for Linux on POWER. Right now, we have to use Storex, which is a pain to use."
"We are not so happy with the technical support because dealing with them is not easy. We have a very complicated environment, therefore I understand for a support person that it is not easy to troubleshoot it."
"The administration interface should implement more functionalities that exist only in the command line and needs improvement in how some reports are created."
"The solution's initial setup process wasn't easy...The solution is overly complicated in terms of architecture, especially compared to other tools in the market."
"Ease of use. That has got to be the one thing that I routinely hear from clients and customers, that it's a little bit more difficult than it should be. What I'm finding is that IBM has heard that and they're responding with updated interfaces and things like that."
"The solution is evolving, so it has to be evolved to fit all new types of software requirements too."
"Some features are outdated as the product does not use the latest technologies. The graphical user interface, known as the operation center, is not very well designed. Additionally, IBM Storage Protect does not work well with virtual environments such as VMware and Hyper-V."
"This product should be more user-friendly for newcomers."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive. However, if you pay less you receive less, it is cost-effective."
"Users have to pay a capacity-based licensing fee for the solution."
"Dell PowerProtect DD's pricing is expensive, and there is no option for perpetual licensing."
"This is one of the more expensive backup solutions on the market."
"The price of the backup appliance is slightly expensive. Compared to other vendors, the pricing will be slightly higher."
"If we do not move to the cloud solution and stay with our on-premise version we will miss some new features."
"The product is expensive."
"The pricing is cost-effective for the solution"
"We have been at our size for a few years. We are not really looking to battle the licensing costs, as this is our primary system."
"The pricing model of this solution is another difficult area, it's very sophisticated in the way they charge. It's based on PBU, which is a type of processor, how, many processors, and you need to put everything into an equation. However, they have different ways of charging or licensing. One way is a back-end volume or front-end volume, which is quite complicated."
"The licensing fees are between $8,000 and $10,000 per year."
"I rate the pricing a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is not cost-effective, and ten is cost-effective."
"IBM Spectrum Protect can be considered an averagely-priced product."
"We chose IBM Spectrum Protect, because they actually have something called MSP pricing, which means managed services provider pricing. The pricing was attractive, and it seems to be a platform that IBM is totally investing on in terms of new functions and new capabilities."
"IBM Spectrum Protect, cost-wise, has way higher pricing than Veeam. By switching over to Veeam, my company saved over $600,000 in USD. The IBM Spectrum Protect pricing is a two on a scale of one to ten. My company paid additional fees for maintenance, apart from the standard licensing fees."
"You need to put it in a PoC and test it out if you can."
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Answers from the Community

AaaAaa5 - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 5, 2020
Oct 5, 2020
The biggest difference is that Data Domain is an appliance storage system (SW + HW storage) but Spectrum is a software (licenses) solution only.
2 out of 10 answers
it_user1115376 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 20, 2020
The biggest difference is that Data Domain is an appliance storage system (SW + HW storage) but Spectrum is a software (licenses) solution only.
CR
Jan 20, 2020
I would look at the way they dedup. DataDomain uses variable-length deduplication so they are very effective. I do not know anything about the IBM product, but we have dealt with IBM and in my opinion, the difference that is going to make the biggest impact is the way they sell TCO. EMC almost negatively impacts themselves by giving a more realistic and often more expensive quote, where IBM gives a seemingly cheaper solution, but later on, it works out more.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business32
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise32
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business53
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise94
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for Dell EMC PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)?
Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is an integrated backup appliance-based solution, and our installed base in Pakistan is substantial. We possess high expertise in both pre-sales and post-sales ac...
What do you like most about Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)?
The product, a disk backup solution, improves our data application tasks. We used tape libraries with Dev drives in legacy architectures, resulting in slow backups compared to modern drives like NV...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)?
Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)'s licensing cost was excellent in 2023, but after 2023, the operating environment licensing cost is huge. It is almost four times the earlier price.
What do you like most about IBM Storage Protect?
The best point about IBM Storage Protect is that it can use IBM tape environments, which we still use and will continue to use in the future.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Storage Protect?
IBM Storage Protect is generally an expensive tool. However, with good contracts with IBM or its partners, the cost might not be so high. New customers can expect very high prices.
What needs improvement with IBM Storage Protect?
One point for improvement for IBM Spectrum Protect is security, as IBM has not been investing as much as in the past. There is a need for additional layers of security to fill the gaps, which is wh...
 

Also Known As

DataDomain, Dell EMC Data Domain, PowerProtect Data Domain
IBM Spectrum Discover
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

The US Army, City of Houston, Lloyds TSB, TiVo, Teck, Ingram Entertainment, The New York Mets
CEMEX
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