What is our primary use case?
IBM Spectrum Protect Protect and IBM Spectrum Protect Plus are new solutions. I did a lot of POCs with the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus and the SP, as well as TSM. These tools were previously known as storage managers, such as the TSM backup solution. In addition, all Veeam competitors and other hypervisor image backup solutions. All that remained was the product IBM Spectrum Protect Plus and the ability to sell it as a software, software-defined infrastructure.
The feature is known as failover protection or IBM Failover. The primary goal is to backup the recurring hypervisor environment and to create, deploy, and run a fast backup process. This is the primary goal.
What is most valuable?
We conducted a proof-of-concept on the customer side, and they found the product to be user-friendly and extremely useful.
Its quick deployment and backup are essential. It has nice features. It is user-friendly, it does not require a special environment to prepare the server-side, network side, and other components because everything is already included, similar to a bundle system.
It is very simple to create and deploy.
What needs improvement?
It still needs to grow and add new features. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, I believe, requires time to become competitive due to a weakness in the other software products. It does not support replication appliances such as Data Domain, ExaGrid, or other DDOS targets.
The only issue is the price. That application should be supported.
For how long have I used the solution?
I had been working with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus for two years.
I no longer sell IBM Spectrum Protect Plus because the company is with Dell. That's why I use NetWare and Data Domain solutions.
Previously, I sold the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus product under the Spectrum brand.
Spectrum is a data protection product in the Spectrum family.
In my environment, we were using on-premises, private cloud, as well as a hybrid cloud environment.
I was a reseller as well as a partner.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is a stable product.
The hypervisor is stable, but I don't think it's easy to recover an item level, light recovery, or granular recovery restore. I believe that a simple image backup is very stable.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is relatable, and their response times are acceptable; their case and response times, I believe, are on a normal level.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I was also selling IBM backup and storage solutions. I am familiar with the Alliance product. Now I work as a solution architect for multi-vendor solutions. My primary focus is on data protection and backup technologies. Also, private cloud and SAP solutions with regard to it.
My primary responsibility is to provide competitive analysis for Pure Storage and other products from HP, NetApp, and Huawei. I also compared other backup technologies such as Data Domain, NetWare from Commvault, and others. I've been in the technical construction of service and solution architect positions for 15 years. I'm currently working on a solution, I believe, with a Dell company's titanium partner because it sells.
I would like to inform you that I replaced Veeam with Spectrum Protect Plus because the Veeam licensing model was very expensive for our customers. They also stated that backup performance and the restore process are not any faster than they are now. The most important thing to replace them is the price because IBM's software price is very competitive and aggressive to Veeam. Price is unimportant to the SPP if they want to close the deal.
The original IBM ProtecTIER is at its end of life.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not complicated, but I don't think it's a developed architecture. It's very straightforward.
It can take up to 15 minutes to deploy. All infrastructure can be completed in this time frame.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
When compared to other vendors, the price is very competitive.
Clients prefer to buy a perpetual license, but the majority opt for a yearly subscription.
I would rate the licensing and price a nine out of ten. The price could be a little lower than that of the other vendors, but the licensing model is fine.
What other advice do I have?
Yes, I recommend it, but this solution is not appropriate for every environment because some features must be developed, but in my environment, simple backup environments, such as only image backup, yes. It's perfectly functional.
I would rate IBM Spectrum Protect Plus an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner