vendor landscape: disk backup

1Info-Tech Research GroupVendor Landscape: Disk Backup

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Vendor Landscape: Disk BackupPoint your efforts at the best target to meet your backup needs.


The disk backup appliance market continues to grow with major server, storage, and backup software vendors investing research and development in maturing available features. These aren’t just a bunch of disks; look closely at differentiating features to find the solution that best fits your needs.

Introduction

Enterprises seeking to select a solution for disk-based backup.• Selection will differ according to the size of

the company and its capacity requirements.• Selection will also vary according to a

requirement of virtual tape library (VTL).

Enterprises looking to make the switch from tape to disk-based backup.

This Research Is Designed For: This Research Will Help You:

Understand what’s new in the disk-based backup market.

Evaluate backup and recovery vendors and products for your enterprise needs.

Determine which products are most appropriate for particular use cases and scenarios.


Executive Summary

Info-Tech evaluated ten competitors in the Disk Backup Appliance market, including the following notable performers:

Champions:• Symantec’s NetBackup 5030 appliance offers flexible replication

capabilities and easy deployment and integration within existing NetBackup environments.

• ExaGrid’s GRID architecture simplifies scaling of capacity and performance for its customers at a cost effective price point.

• Quantum differentiates its DXi-Series appliances with a rich feature set, ease of scaling and management, and a continued commitment to innovation in data protection.

• HP has expanded its StoreOnce portfolio of backup appliances into the enterprise with the HP StoreOnce B6200. Its two-node clusters with autonomic restart capabilities bring high availability to backup.

Value Award:• Symantec, through independent licensing of hardware and

software, makes adding the 5030 easy for existing customers.

Trend Setter Award:• Quantum innovated in the past with upstream dedupe and its

DXiV1000 virtual appliance, and its new Dynamic Disk Pools technology improves on RAID6 architecture for faster drive rebuilds, which will be key to its support for 3TB drives.

1. Scalability:Data deduplication used to be a differentiator in disk backup, but the ability to scale capacity and deduplicate that capacity is now a key differentiator in the market. Innovating vendors are finding ways to improve on the old scale up model with either scale out or software-enabled expansion.

2. Replicability:All reputable solutions offer both bidirectional and fan-in replication, but organizations with more complex needs will need a vendor with one-to-many, many-to-many, and/or cascaded replication capabilities.

3. Flexibility:As organizations require more aggressive RPOs and RTOs in combination with non-dedupable workloads and archiving, many require a mix of disk and tape, and control over whether a job is deduplicated or not. Look to solutions that support both tape support and an option to turn deduplication off.

Info-Tech Insight


Market Overview

• Spinning disk simplified management and speeded restore. Many organizations moved to disk to eliminate tape rotation headaches and improve recovery times.

• Deduplication became mainstream. Originally championed by start-up innovators such as market leader Data Domain, dedupe has become mainstream, driving down the cost per terabyte differences between disk and tape.

• Deduplicating Virtual Tape Library (VTL) appliances had the added advantage of being a “drop in” solution. A VTL could be installed in place of a retired tape library with no change to backup procedures or software.

• Disk-to-disk backup became the dominant architecture. A 2012 Info-Tech survey found 62% investing in a new backup architecture were focused on disk-to-disk (vs. 17% disk-to-tape). Many organizations have now moved tape to an archiving role or have eliminated tape altogether.

• Replication flexibility has become an area of differentiation. Most disk backup appliances can conduct bidirectional replication between sites and fan-in replication from Remote and Branch Offices (ROBOs), but some solutions can also replicate from one site to many or enable cascaded replication schemes.

• Appliance vendors are getting pressure to enable high availability. Virtual infrastructures have driven up business expectations for agility and availability, and these expectations are trickling down to backup. Look for vendors to add dual controller architectures to their portfolio if they haven’t already.

• Big Data will make speed and scalability more important. Organizations of all sizes are seeing significant data growth, which has an even greater impact on backup storage than primary storage because multiple copies of data are often retained. Scaling of both capacity and throughput will become more and more important as these data volumes grow further.

How it got here Where it’s going

As the market evolves, capabilities that were once cutting edge become default and new functionality becomes differentiating. Deduplication as well as bidirectional and fan-in replication have become Table Stakes capabilities and should no longer be used to differentiate solutions. Instead, focus on scalability and flexibility in replication options to get the best fit for your requirements.


Disk Backup Vendor selection / knock-out criteria: market share, mind share, and platform coverage

• EMC. Market share leader and early entrant in the space with its purchase of Data Domain in 2009.

• Dell. Entering the deduplicating disk backup appliance market, Dell has been adding functionality to its DR4000 series appliances quickly and continuously since initially going to market in 2012.

• ExaGrid. Focused solely on backup appliances, ExaGrid’s unique GRID architecture for simple scaling of capacity and performance has made it an appealing solution, especially for small to mid-market customers.

• FalconStor. A mature data protection vendor, FalconStor offers flexible replication and deduplication options for mid-market and enterprise customers.

• Fujitsu Technology Solutions. Long time seller of reliable disk-based storage, Fujitsu offers both appliances for mid-market and gateway devices for enterprise.

• HP. With its StoreOnce solutions, HP has, in the last year, expanded its deduplicating appliance capabilities into the enterprise through improved performance, scalability, and availability.

• IBM. Long time disk and tape provider with both appliance and gateway solutions for mid-market and large enterprises.

• Quantum. Data protection focuses company with roots in tape backup; it provides software, disk appliances, and tape libraries for companies of all sizes.

• Sepaton. High-end disk backup provider for large enterprises with high performance needs.

• Symantec. Strong and market share leading backup software vendor that has seen notable success with its appliances.

• Unitrends. Small backup vendor targeting small to mid-sized companies with easy to use, all-in-one backup solutions.

Included in this Vendor Landscape:

• For the purposes of this Vendor Landscape report, vendors must be able to provide a deduplicating disk backup appliance and be capable of pricing out the disk appliance component separately from backup software.

• In addition, Info-Tech focused on those vendors that have a strong market presence and/or reputational presence among mid and large-sized enterprises.


Criteria Weighting:

Disk Backup criteria & weighting factors

30%

20%30%

20%

50%

50%

Vendor is committed to the space and has a future product and portfolio roadmap.Strategy

Vendor offers global coverage and is able to sell and provide post-sales support. Reach

Vendor is profitable, knowledgeable, and will be around for the long-term.Viability

Vendor channel strategy is appropriate and the channels themselves are strong. Channel

The three year TCO of the solution is economical.Affordability

The solution is scalable and is regularly updated with innovative technologies.Architecture

The solution’s dashboard and reporting tools are intuitive and easy to use.Usability

The solution provides basic and advanced feature/functionality.Features

30%

30%

15%

25%

Features Usability

Architecture Affordability

Product

Vendor

Viability Strategy

Channel Reach

Product Evaluation Criteria

Vendor Evaluation Criteria


The Info-Tech Disk Backup Vendor Landscape:

The Info-Tech Disk Backup Vendor Landscape

Champions receive high scores for most evaluation criteria and offer excellent value. They have a strong market presence and are usually the trend setters for the industry.

Market Pillars are established players with very strong vendor credentials, but with more average product scores.

Innovators have demonstrated innovative product strengths that act as their competitive advantage in appealing to niche segments of the market.

Emerging Players are newer vendors who are starting to gain a foothold in the marketplace. They balance product and vendor attributes, though score lower relative to market Champions.

For an explanation of how the Info-Tech Vendor Landscape is created, see Information Presentation – Vendor Landscape in the Appendix.

The Zones of the Landscape

Dell EMC

ExaGrid

FalconStor

Fujitsu

HP

IBM

Quantum

Sepaton

Symantec


� � � �

=Exemplary =Good =Adequate =Inadequate =Poor

Balance individual strengths to find the best fit for your enterprise

Legend

For an explanation of how the Info-Tech Harvey Balls are calculated, see Information Presentation – Criteria Scores (Harvey Balls) in the Appendix.

Overall Features Usability Afford. Arch. Overall Viability Strategy Reach Channel

Product Vendor

*The vendor declined to provide pricing and publically available pricing could not be found.

HP

ExaGrid

EMC*

FalconStor

Fujitsu*

Dell

Sepaton*

Quantum

Symantec

IBM


What is a Value Score?

The Info-Tech Disk-based Backup Appliance Value Index

4050

6070

8090

3020

10

The Value Score indexes each vendor’s product offering and business strength relative to their price point. It does not indicate vendor ranking.

Vendors that score high offer more bang-for-the-buck (e.g. features, usability, stability, etc.) than the average vendor, while the inverse is true for those that score lower.

Price-conscious enterprises may wish to give the Value Score more consideration than those who are more focused on specific vendor/product attributes.

On a relative basis, Symantec maintained the highest Info-Tech Value ScoreTM of the vendor group. Vendors were indexed against Symantec’sperformance to provide a complete, relative view of their product offerings.

Champion

For an explanation of how the Info-Tech Value Index is calculated, see Information Presentation – Value Index in the Appendix.

For an explanation of how Price is determined, see Information Presentation – Price Evaluation in the Appendix.

*The vendor declined to provide pricing and publically available pricing could not be found

100 99

63

3221

11 10 0 0 0

Average Score: 40


Table Stakes represent the minimum standard; without these, a product doesn’t even get reviewed

If Table Stakes are all you need from your Disk Backup solution, the only true differentiator for the organization is price. Otherwise, dig deeper to find the best price to value for your needs.

The products assessed in this Vendor LandscapeTM meet, at the very least, the requirements outlined as Table Stakes.

Many of the vendors go above and beyond the outlined Table Stakes, some even do so in multiple categories. This section aims to highlight the products’ capabilities in excess of the criteria listed here.

The Table Stakes What Does This Mean?

Redundant data objects are eliminated within the backup appliance, either inline or post process.Deduplication

Data is encrypted before replicating over WAN using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol.

Encryption In Flight

Multiple appliances can replicate over the WAN or LAN to one central appliance.

Fan-in (N:1) Replication

Appliance A can be configured to replicate to appliance B, and vice versa.

Bidirectional Replication

Encodes data on the appliance with fewer bits than which the data was originally encoded.Compression

Ability to leverage Common Internet File System and Network File System remote file access protocols.

CIFS/NFS Support

What it is:Feature


Advanced Features are the capabilities that allow for granular market differentiation

Advanced FeaturesInfo-Tech scored each vendor’s features offering as a summation of their individual scores across the listed advanced features. Vendors were given 1 point for each feature the product inherently provided. Some categories were scored on a more granular scale with vendors receiving half points.

Scoring Methodology

Can replicate from appliance A to appliance B, and then from appliance B to appliance C.

Cascaded Replication

Can add “nodes” to increase throughput and capacity, and appear as a single pool of storage.

Scale-out Architecture

Replication topology among three or more sites – each appliance has multiple site destinations.

Many-to-Many (N:N) Replication

Can be configured to replicate from one primary appliance to many appliances (at other sites).

One-to-Many (1:N) Replication

Controllers can be upgraded to increase throughput and/or performance.

Upgradable Controller

Appliance’s bandwidth utilization can be controlled directly and scheduled.

Bandwidth Throttling

Appliance enables direct integration with tape systems without third-party software intervention.

Tape Integration

Data can be physically stored in an encrypted state on the appliance.Encryption at Rest

Optionally stores data in undeduplicated state –such as image files or pre-compressed data.No Dedupe Option

Provides true high availability through redundant controller configuration for each appliance.

Multi-Controller Configuration

What we looked for:Feature

For an explanation of how Advanced Features are determined, see Information Presentation – Feature Ranks (Stop Lights) in the Appendix.


Each vendor offers a different feature set; concentrate on what your organization needs

1:N Replication

N:N Replication





Tape Integration

Encryption at Rest

No Dedupe Option

Multi-controller

Evaluated Features

=Feature Absent=Feature partially present/pending=Feature fully presentLegend

For an explanation of how Advanced Features are determined, see Information Presentation – Feature Ranks (Stop Lights) in the Appendix.

HP

ExaGrid

EMC

FalconStor

Fujitsu

Dell

Sepaton

Quantum

Symantec

IBM


4

Large organizations have more stringent archival, scalability, and high availability and may be overkill for small or mid-sized companies.

Focus on a class of solutions that align with your scale and service level requirements

32

Organization Size1 Small to Mid-Range Companies

Entry Enterprise to Large Enterprise

CS 800 StoreOnce 4000 Series TS7620 Appliance

StoreOnce 6200

CS High End

TS7650 Gateway

For an explanation of how Scenarios are determined, see Information Presentation – Scenarios in the Appendix.

Why Scenarios?In reviewing the products included in each Vendor LandscapeTM, certain use-cases come to the forefront. Whether those use-cases are defined by applicability in certain locations, relevance for certain industries, or as strengths in delivering a specific capability, Info-Tech recognizes those use-cases as Scenarios, and calls attention to them where they exist.

Backup Exec integrated

NetBackup integratedor unintegrated (5030)


4

Post-process deduplication can provide backup performance assurances, but requires more total processing than inline; some solutions can do both.

Consider different data deduplication philosophies depending on performance requirements and data complexity

3

1

Deduplication Options2Flexible Inline or Post-Process Deduplication

Inline Deduplication

Post-Process Deduplication



Software-integrated appliances only

NetBackup 5030 only


All solutions can replicate deduped data between sites for Disaster Recovery, but most cannot provide deduplication beyond a single appliance.

Solutions differ extensively on how “global” their dedupe capabilities really are, but this may not matter for many

CS HE TS7650 Gateway

(up to 10 devices)

TS7620 Appliance

(up to 8 nodes) (up to 2 nodes)

CS 800

Within Gateway

Across Multiple Appliances or Within Cluster

Within Appliance



21

4

Deduplication Expansibility3

(up to 6 nodes)


While Virtual Tape Libraries (VTLs) are falling out of favor, they are still an easy upgrade path from tape or for organizations upgrading hardware only.

Consider existing backup policies and schedules when upgrading to disk from tape


21 VTL and NAS

NAS only (through CIFS/NFS)


3

VTL Functionality4VTL only


Product:Employees:

Headquarters:Website:

Founded:Presence:

NetBackup 5030 appliance17,000+Mountain View, CASymantec.com1982NASDAQ: SYMC

Champion• Symantec is the largest provider of security, data protection,

and archiving software in the world. It entered the backup appliance market in 2009 by pairing its market share leading Backup Exec and NetBackup software with deduplicating disk systems.

Overview

• NetBackup 5030 backup appliances each provide usable capacity of 32TB as a target, and up to six appliances can be aggregated for 192TB of usable, globally deduped capacity.

• Dedupe options are more flexible than most, with dedupe at the source, media server, or target, and either inline or post-process.

• Independent licensing of hardware and software simplifies scaling and protects software investments over time.

• Easy and flexible deployment; appliances integrate simply into existing Backup Exec and NetBackup environments.

• Symantec’s other backup software-integrated appliances for Backup Exec (up to 5.5TB usable) and NetBackup (4-64TB usable) allow it to address a broad market.

Strengths

• Perceived lack of maturity in disk sales and support can be a challenge against competitors with a long history in the space.

• NetBackup 5030 can only be targeted by NetBackup or Backup Exec backup software.

Challenges

3 year TCO for this solution falls into pricing tier 6, between $100,000 and $250,000

Pricing provided by vendor (based on 5030 appliance only)

$1 $2.5M+

Symantec’s deduplicating backup appliances leverage its longstanding maturity in the space


Capacity Range Before Deduplication

Vendor Landscape

1001st out of 10

Value Index


Product Vendor

1:N Replication

N:N Replication





Tape Integration

Encryption at Rest

No Dedupe Option

Multi-controller

Features

Capacity range between 32TB and 192TB

1TB 8PBMax In-Appliance Usable Capacity

(presentable as single storage pool)

Symantec’s flexible deployment options and intuitive licensing make it an easy drop-in to Symantec backup environments

Info-Tech Recommends:

If you are a Symantec customer or considering a switch in backup software, Symantec’s appliances should be considered for their ease of deployment. They have the basic replication and deduplication capabilities that fit most organizations’ needs.


Product:Employees:


Founded:Presence:

ExaGrid EX150+Westborough, MAExaGrid.com2002Privately held

Champion

Pricing provided by vendor


$1 $2.5M+

• A disk backup-focused vendor with more than 1,600 customers and over 5,000 systems installed, ExaGrid has successfully expanded its customer base from small to mid-market into entry enterprise and continues to grow.

Overview

• ExaGrid’s modular GRID architecture enables simple simultaneous scaling of both performance and capacity which, in combination with backwards compatibility with previous generation hardware, means no massive forklift upgrades.

• Very fast backup speeds because post-process deduplication allows backups to write at disk speed, with no potential for dedupe to slow things down.

• Zone level deduplication uses large objects and similarity detection that uses small tracking tables, enabling scalable data reduction across up to ten devices, a full backup up to 130TB, and 320TB of raw capacity.

• Lower cost is a significant benefit of ExaGrid’s EX appliances.

Strengths

• Offers basic fan-in and bidirectional replication capabilities, but supported one to many replication only allows for two copies of any given data, and cascaded replication is not supported.

• ExaGrid may be challenged in broadening global deduplication capability beyond ten nodes, however a shorter term solution may be to increase the total capacity of each node.

Challenges

ExaGrid’s ease of scalability and appealing price point make it a popular disk backup solution



Vendor Landscape

992nd out of 10

Value Index


Product Vendor

1:N Replication

N:N Replication





Tape Integration

Encryption at Rest

No Dedupe Option

Multi-controller

Features





ExaGrid has an innovative architecture that solves many of the scalability and recoverability issues that many organizations are facing right now. Any organization that can consider backup to disk over Ethernet should have a look at ExaGrid.

ExaGrid continues to increase in popularity, especially among mid-market customers


Product:Employees:


Founded:Presence:

Quantum DXi-Series1,820San Jose, CAQuantum.com1980NYSE: QTM

Champion• Quantum offers a range of data protection products including its

DXi Disk-based backup appliances, Scalar/iLayer tape libraries, Q-Cloud backup/DR as a Service, and vmPRO virtual backup software.

Overview

• Quantum’s DXi lineup offers scalable solutions for needs ranging from 1-2TB (for ROBO/SMB) with its DXiV1000 virtual appliance to 330TB usable with its DXi8500 Enterprise.

• New DXi Dynamic Disk Pools technology for DXi6800 improves on RAID6 architecture to enable faster drive rebuilds with less performance degradation, and on-the-fly disk pool expansion.

• “Pay-as-you-grow” scalability simplifies addition of capacity to the device using a software key, and DXi Accent base price includes unlimited licenses for upstream data deduplication.

• Quantum’s self-encrypting drives minimize performance costs to encryption at rest.

• Use of 3TB drives enables more efficient use of rack space.

Strengths

• While Quantum’s appliances cannot currently scale out to aggregate capacity of multiple appliances to present as a single pool of storage, Quantum Vision enables single pane of glass management of Scalar tape libraries, DXiV1000 virtual appliances, vmPRO backup software as well as DXi appliances.

• One-to-many replication will not be available until 2H 2013.

Challenges


Pricing provided by vendor$1 $2.5M+

Quantum continues to provide innovative and reliable technologies for its DXi backup appliances



Vendor Landscape

324th out of 10

Value Index


Product Vendor

1:N Replication

N:N Replication





Tape Integration

Encryption at Rest

No Dedupe Option

Multi-controller

Features




Quantum’s unique software-enabled scalability improves on traditional scale up architecture


Quantum delivers on all of the “must have” features for most organizations, and expands on that with simplified management and scalability. Its backup software agnostic approach makes it a viable option for organizations of all sizes.


Champion

HP has quickly ramped up functionality in the past year to make StoreOnce an enterprise-class solution

Product:

Employees:Headquarters:

Website:Founded:

Presence:

HP StoreOnce Backup Systems349,600Palo Alto, CAHP.com1939NYSE: HPQ

• A latecomer to the market, HP has ramped up its StoreOnce Backup Systems capabilities and marketing in the past year. It offers StoreOnce VSA/2000/4000 series appliances for SMB/ROBO to mid-market and B6200 for mid-market to enterprise.

Overview

• New StoreOnce Virtual Storage Appliance (VSA) enables deployment of purpose-built backup appliances without the need for new hardware, and management of ROBOs centrally.

• HP claims restore speeds of at least 80% of ingest speed.• StoreOnce B6200 adds enterprise-class performance and

availability to existing StoreOnce lineup. Two node clusters have no single point of failure, and have ability to fail-over and autonomically restart jobs in the event of controller failure.

• Management at scale is improved with B6200 fan in ratio of 384:1 and ability to manage eight nodes from a single console.

• StoreOnce Catalyst extends dedupe upstream at backup server, application server and remote offices.

Strengths

• StoreOnce portfolio can be challenging to navigate as B6200 and Catalyst capabilities confuse messaging for other products.

• StoreOnce catalyst software only supports HP Data Protector 7, Symantec NetBackup, and Backup Exec backup software.

Challenges





Vendor Landscape

116th out of 10

Value Index


Product Vendor

1:N Replication

N:N Replication





Tape Integration

Encryption at Rest

No Dedupe Option

Multi-controller

Features




Initially targeting the mid-market, HP’s StoreOnce offers mature replication and availability capabilities


HP should be a no-brainer inclusion on shortlists for HP customers looking for disk backup capabilities, especially if HP’s Data Protector is also being considered; HP’s Catalyst software works with both solutions to provide anywhere data deduplication capabilities.


Product:Employees:


Founded:Presence:

EMC Data Domain 53,500Hopkinton, MAEMC.com1979NYSE: EMC

EMC Data Domain continues to be a market leader and innovator in the backup appliance market

Market Pillar• EMC is the market share leader in the disk backup appliance

market, and is also a dominant storage and backup software vendor. Building on its 2009 acquisition of Data Domain, EMC is a pioneer and innovator in the disk backup market.

Overview

• EMC provides appliances that target a wide market, from small businesses and remote offices with DD160 (est. 40-195TB logical), to large enterprises with DD990 (est. up to 28.5PB logical).

• Data Domain Boost agents enables deduplication upstream from the appliance at the backup server or application clients, to improve backup performance.

• EMC’s new Data Protection Suite packages Avamar and Networker, Data Domain and Data Domain Boost, Data Protection Advisor (for backup monitoring and reporting), and SourceOne archiving software to simplify acquisition, implementation, and licensing of backup and archiving solutions.

Strengths

• Capital costs and licensing complexity have been cited as deterrents by Info-Tech customers, however EMC’s new Data Protection Suite may address this issue for some.

• Info-Tech customers have expressed a desire for deduplicating backup appliances with scale-out capabilities, which is not currently available with Data Domain.

Challenges

The vendor declined to provide pricing, and publicly available pricing could not be found

$1 $2.5M+



Vendor Landscape

Data Domain offers replication capabilities that are better than most, on a reliable and tested platform


Data Domain systems continue to be the yardstick that most vendors measure themselves against. It should be on the shortlist of any vendor looking for a reliable and mature deduplicating disk backup appliance, but customers often remark that it is the most expensive option.


Product Vendor

1:N Replication

N:N Replication





Tape Integration

Encryption at Rest

No Dedupe Option

Multi-controller

Features

Max In-Appliance Usable Capacity

Capacity range between 32.2TB and 20PB

1TB 8PB+


N/AValue Index

The vendor declined to provide pricing, and publicly available pricing could not be

found


Product:


Website:Founded:

Presence:

IBM ProtecTIER TS7620 Appliance and TS7650 Gateway433,362Armonk, NYIBM.com1911NYSE: IBM

Market Pillar• Originally sold as a Virtual Tape Library in 2005, IBM has since

added deduplication capabilities acquired from Diligent Technologies (2008) to ProtecTIER. IBM now offers its TS7620 appliance for mid-market and TS7650 Gateway for enterprise.

Overview

• IBM has a long history in the backup market, and has over 3,000 installations of ProtecTIER since 2005, with strong roots in enterprise accounts, and scaling up to 1PB physical repository.

• IBM has been actively adding functionality to its ProtecTIER systems, including CIFS and NFS support in 2012.

• IBM is one of few vendors to publish restore speeds with claims of comparable restore and backup speed on TS7620 appliance and 30% faster restore than backup on TS7650 Gateway.

• IBM has the ability to provide active/active cluster configurations on all ProtecTIER systems eliminating single points of failure.

• ProtecTIER gateway offers encryption at rest and flexibility in back end storage.

Strengths

• Unlike other vendors in the space, IBM does not lay claim to any technology advantages to purchasing ProtecTIER with its own backup software, Tivoli Storage Manager, or other popular storage technologies, such as PureSystems.

• Late support for CIFS and NFS may prove a challenge to pushing ProtecTIER into the mid-market.

Challenges



IBM continues to invest in ProtecTIER, and offers solutions for both mid-market and enterprise



Vendor Landscape

215th out of 10

Value Index


Product Vendor

1:N Replication

N:N Replication





Tape Integration

Encryption at Rest

No Dedupe Option

Multi-controller

Features

Capacity range between 32TB and 1PB



IBM continues to invest in ProtecTIER and offers solutions for both mid-market and enterprise


ProtecTIER originally offered an upgrade path from tape with its VTL and has continued this with the addition of CIFS and NFS support. Look to IBM to continue to mature this product. IBM customers should consider ProtecTIER, especially for its mature replication capabilities.


Product:


Website:Founded:

Presence:

Virtual Tape Library (VTL) & File-interface Deduplication System (FDS)442Melville, NYFalconstor.com2000NASDAQ: FALC

Emerging Player• Offering a range of data protection and open network storage

solutions, FalconStor’s VTL and FDS are both available as a Virtual Appliance (1-5TB), Storage Appliance (12-192TB), or as a Gateway Appliance with HA capability (up to 2PB in a cluster).

Overview

• FalconStor’s wide range of deployment options makes it capable of addressing a broad market with the same software and functionality across the board.

• Flexible deduplication capabilities are a stand out with the ability to select inline, post process, or no deduplication options.

• FalconStor’s high fan-in ratio for replication, in combination with its Virtual Appliance offering, make it flexible for multi-site organizations.

• Gateway appliance can enable global deduplication, high availability, and heterogeneous back end storage with clustering of up to eight storage nodes.

• VTL offers comprehensive support for IBM i and NAS devices.

Strengths

• FalconStor’s all-in-one software solution often leads to difficulty competing on price in the mid-market where buyers are willing to trade functionality for cost effectiveness.

• FalconStor continues to be perceived as a large enterprise-focused company and has difficulty getting on shortlists of mid-market customers.

Challenges



FalconStor provides flexible deduplication and replication capabilities for companies of all sizes



Vendor Landscape

107th out of 10

Value Index


Product Vendor

1:N Replication

N:N Replication





Tape Integration

Encryption at Rest

No Dedupe Option

Multi-controller

Features





FalconStor’s capabilities around scalability, replicability, deduplication, and integration with other storage media are quite robust, making it an excellent choice for organizations with enterprise-class requirements, but it also scales down to the mid-market. However, cost can be a hindrance to adoption.

FalconStor has a sophisticated and mature feature set for disaster recovery enablement and backup operations control


Product:Employees:


Founded:Presence:

Dell DR4000/4100 109,400Round Rock, TXDell.com1984Privately held

Dell offers a cost-effective solution that meets most small to midsized customer requirements

Emerging Player• Based on data reduction technologies acquired from Ocarina

Networks, Dell was a late entrant to the disk backup appliance market in early 2012. Dell’s appliance strategy has since shifted from partnerships to in-house development over the last year.

Overview

• Dell has been rapidly adding capabilities to its DR series appliances, including 12th Generation Dell PowerEdge hardware, support for 9, 18, and 27TB expansion shelves (after RAID), and increasing replication fan-in ratio from 5:1 to 32:1.

• Added support for acquired Quest NetVault and vRanger backup software, as well as CA ARCserve to existing support for most major backup software solutions, including Symantec OST.

• DR series appliances are among the most cost effective solutions on the market.

• Ease of use is traditionally a strong point with Dell, as its target customer has traditionally been the small to mid-market.

Strengths

• No support for FC or direct tape integration, but backup to tape can still be supported through the backup software.

• Basic replication, scaling, and deduplication options are supported, but are not as flexible as with many other solutions. However, Dell has been ramping up capabilities quickly since entering the market.

Challenges

Pricing provided by vendor


$1 $2.5M+



Vendor Landscape

Dell has been a late entrant, but quickly ramping up its feature set in disk-based backup

633rd out of 10

Value Index


Dell’s DR series appliances offer most of the basic features that one would expect for disk-based backup and effectively integrates with Dell’s backup software portfolio. It’s a great option for small to mid-sized Dell customers.


Product Vendor

1:N Replication

N:N Replication





Tape Integration

Encryption at Rest

No Dedupe Option

Multi-controller

Features

Capacity range between 2.7TB and 81TB

1TB 8PB

(presentable as single storage pool)Max In-Appliance Usable Capacity


Product:


Website:Founded:

Presence:

Sepaton S2100-DS3 and S2100-ES3200Marlborough, MASepaton.com1999Privately held

Emerging Player• Sepaton’s S2100 series appliances are targeted at large

enterprises and differentiate on high speed backup and extreme scalability, specializing in backup and restore of large databases.

Overview

• Sepaton claims that its DeltaScale architecture includes up to eight processing nodes, each with high capacity, dual socket, six-core CPUs, and dual hardware compression cards.

• DeltaScale also enables fast application restart by storing the most recent backup in a single contiguous location, and provides global dedupe across up to eight clustered nodes.

• Sepaton uses DeltaStor’s DBeXstream technology to enable deduplication of very large databases at the byte level in combination with 16-way multiplexing and multistreaming.

• Sepaton’s post-process deduplication technology, ContentAware, allows selective dedupe based on application, backup server, or backup software.

Strengths

• Most of Sepaton’s business comes from enterprise clients in the United States, with some penetration into the United Kingdom. Given its focus on large enterprise, it will be challenged to branch out into other areas of Europe or Asia.

Challenges


$1 $2.5M+

Sepaton offers high performance and highly scalable backup for enterprise customers



Vendor LandscapeOverall Features Usability Afford. Arch. Overall Viability Strategy Reach Channel

Product Vendor

1:N Replication

N:N Replication





Tape Integration

Encryption at Rest

No Dedupe Option

Multi-controller

Features




Sepaton’s support for very large databases is second to none


Any large organization with high performance requirements absolutely must include Sepaton on their shortlist.

N/AValue Index


found


Product:


Website:Founded:

Presence:

ETERNUS CS800ETERNUS CS High End173,155Tokyo, JapanFujitsu.com1935TYO: 6702

Fujitsu’s CS series appliances offer mature and reliable backup and replication

Emerging Player• Fujitsu Technology Solutions develops a wide range of primary

and backup storage solutions including tape, with strong presence in Japan. It offers both ETERNUS CS800 for the SMB to mid-market, and ETERNUS High End for the enterprise.

Overview

• Fujitsu’s CS800 appliance is a turn key solution providing anywhere from 4.8 to 250TB, with the option to emulate Quantum’s Scalar tape libraries, making it a reliable solution for small to mid-sized companies or ROBOs.

• CS800’s direct path to tape support is also a plus.• Fujitsu’s CS High End virtualizes and consolidates back end

storage infrastructure with a software abstraction layer, providing unified management of disk and tape systems.

• CS High End comes pre-integrated with either CommVault or Symantec backup and archiving software, simplifying implementation, support, and management.

• Flexible replication topologies with CS High End.

Strengths

• Limited marketing prowess, especially in North America, hinders Fujitsu’s global reach and growth.

• Differences in features and functionality between CS products, such as replication flexibility and high availability, adds some confusion to the disk backup portfolio.

Challenges


$1 $2.5M+



Vendor Landscape

Fujitsu is a mature vendor with solutions for mid-market and enterprise customers developed through partnerships


Fujitsu’s strong partnerships with other backup hardware and software vendors, means it has a mature disk backup portfolio. Its strong presence in Japan and, to a lesser extent, EMEA, make it a solid option for organizations in those regions. It does, however, have a presence in America as well.


Product Vendor

1:N Replication

N:N Replication





Tape Integration

Encryption at Rest

No Dedupe Option

Multi-controller

Features

Capacity range between 4.8TB and 1.4PB



N/AValue Index


found


Product:


Website:Founded:

Presence:

Unitrends Recovery Appliances170Columbia, SCUnitrends.com1989Privately held

Unitrends is a great all-in-one backup software and hardware solution for small to mid-market customers

Honorable Mention• Unitrends is a growing data protection company mainly

targeting small to mid-market customers in the USA. Its primary goals are ease of use and flexibility, offering virtual and physical appliances that come pre-integrated with backup software.

Overview

• Unitrends claims a customer satisfaction rate of 99%.• Scheduling flexibility and visualization capabilities are better

than most with Unitrends, simplifying backup operations, as well as monitoring and reporting.

• Bandwidth throttling enables direct control of network bandwidth utilization to avoid impact of backups on production workloads.

• Supports replication of backups and fixed or rotational archiving of data to tape.

• Unique Vault2Cloud enables replication of data on the appliance to Unitrends’ public cloud to enable disaster recovery. In the event of a disaster, an appliance populated with replicated data can be sent via next day shipping.

Strengths

• Unitrends appliances currently scale up to 43TB of logical capacity, however, Unitrends’ scale up architecture does not enable presentation of multiple appliances as a single pool of storage or managed through a single user interface.

• Basic replication topologies, such as bidirectional and fan-in, are supported, but more flexible options are not yet available.

Challenges



The Info-Tech Disk Backup Vendor Shortlist Tool is designed to generate a customized shortlist of vendors based on your key priorities.

Identify leading candidates with the Disk Backup Vendor Shortlist Tool

• Overall Vendor vs. Product Weightings

• Individual product criteria weightings:FeaturesUsabilityAffordabilityArchitecture

• Individual vendor criteria weightings:ViabilityStrategyReachChannel

This tool offers the ability to modify:


Appendix

1. Vendor Landscape Methodology: Overview

2. Vendor Landscape Methodology: Product Selection & Information Gathering

3. Vendor Landscape Methodology: Scoring

4. Vendor Landscape Methodology: Information Presentation

5. Vendor Landscape Methodology: Fact Check & Publication

6. Product Pricing Scenario


Vendor Landscape Methodology:Overview

Info-Tech’s Vendor Landscapes are research materials that review a particular IT market space, evaluating the strengths and abilities of both the products available in that space, as well as the vendors of those products. These materials are created by a team of dedicated analysts operating under the direction of a senior subject matter expert over a period of six weeks.

Evaluations weigh selected vendors and their products (collectively “solutions”) on the following eight criteria to determine overall standing:• Features: The presence of advanced and market-differentiating capabilities.• Usability: The intuitiveness, power, and integrated nature of administrative consoles and client software components.• Affordability: The three-year total cost of ownership of the solution.• Architecture: The degree of integration with the vendor’s other tools, flexibility of deployment, and breadth of platform applicability.• Viability: The stability of the company as measured by its history in the market, the size of its client base, and its financial performance.• Strategy: The commitment to both the market-space, as well as to the various sized clients (small, mid-sized, and enterprise clients).• Reach: The ability of the vendor to support its products on a global scale.• Channel: The measure of the size of the vendor’s channel partner program, as well as any channel strengthening strategies.

Evaluated solutions are plotted on a standard two by two matrix:• Champions: Both the product and the vendor receive scores that are above the average score for the evaluated group.• Innovators: The product receives a score that is above the average score for the evaluated group, but the vendor receives a score that is

below the average score for the evaluated group.• Market Pillars: The product receives a score that is below the average score for the evaluated group, but the vendor receives a score that

is above the average score for the evaluated group.• Emerging Players: Both the product and the vendor receive scores that are below the average score for the evaluated group.

Info-Tech’s Vendor Landscapes are researched and produced according to a strictly adhered to process that includes the following steps:• Vendor/product selection• Information gathering• Vendor/product scoring• Information presentation• Fact checking• Publication

This document outlines how each of these steps is conducted.


Vendor Landscape Methodology:Vendor/Product Selection & Information Gathering

Info-Tech works closely with its client base to solicit guidance in terms of understanding the vendors with whom clients wish to work and the products that they wish evaluated; this demand pool forms the basis of the vendor selection process for Vendor Landscapes. Balancing this demand, Info-Tech also relies upon the deep subject matter expertise and market awareness of its Senior, Lead, and Principle Research Analysts to ensure that appropriate solutions are included in the evaluation. As an aspect of that expertise and awareness, Info-Tech’s analysts may, at their discretion, determine the specific capabilities that are required of the products under evaluation, and include in the Vendor Landscape only those solutions that meet all specified requirements.

Information on vendors and products is gathered in a number of ways via a number of channels.

Initially, a request package is submitted to vendors to solicit information on a broad range of topics. The request package includes:• A detailed survey.• A pricing scenario (see Vendor Landscape Methodology: Price Evaluation and Pricing Scenario, below).• A request for reference clients.• A request for a briefing and, where applicable, guided product demonstration.

These request packages are distributed approximately twelve weeks prior to the initiation of the actual research project to allow vendors ample time to consolidate the required information and schedule appropriate resources.

During the course of the research project, briefings and demonstrations are scheduled (generally for one hour each session, though more time is scheduled as required) to allow the analyst team to discuss the information provided in the survey, validate vendor claims, and gain direct exposure to the evaluated products. Additionally, an end-user survey is circulated to Info-Tech’s client base and vendor-supplied reference accounts are interviewed to solicit their feedback on their experiences with the evaluated solutions and with the vendors of those solutions.

These materials are supplemented by a thorough review of all product briefs, technical manuals, and publicly available marketing materials about the product, as well as about the vendor itself.

Refusal by a vendor to supply completed surveys or submit to participation in briefings and demonstrations does not eliminate a vendor from inclusion in the evaluation. Where analyst and client input has determined that a vendor belongs in a particular evaluation, it will be evaluated as best as possible based on publicly available materials only. As these materials are not as comprehensive as a survey, briefing, and demonstration, the possibility exists that the evaluation may not be as thorough or accurate. Since Info-Tech includes vendors regardless of vendor participation, it is always in the vendor’s best interest to participate fully.

All information is recorded and catalogued, as required, to facilitate scoring and for future reference.


Vendor Landscape Methodology:Scoring

Once all information has been gathered and evaluated for all vendors and products, the analyst team moves to scoring. All scoring is performed at the same time so as to ensure as much consistency as possible. Each criterion is scored on a ten point scale, though the manner of scoring for criteria differs slightly:

• Features is scored via Cumulative Scoring• Affordability is scored via Scalar Scoring• All other criteria are scored via Base5 Scoring

In Cumulative Scoring, a single point is assigned to each evaluated feature that is regarded as being fully present, partial points to each feature that is partially present, and zero points to features that are deemed to be absent or unsatisfactory. The assigned points are summed and normalized to a value out of ten. For example, if a particular Vendor Landscape evaluates eight specific features in the Feature Criteria, the summed score out of eight for each evaluated product would be multiplied by 1.25 to yield a value out of ten.

In Scalar Scoring, a score of ten is assigned to the lowest cost solution, and a score of one is assigned to the highest cost solution. All other solutions are assigned a mathematically determined score based on their proximity to / distance from these two endpoints. For example, in an evaluation of three solutions, where the middle cost solution is closer to the low end of the pricing scale it will receive a higher score, and where it is closer to the high end of the pricing scale it will receive a lower score; depending on proximity to the high or low price it is entirely possible that it could receive either ten points (if it is very close to the lowest price) or one point (if it is very close to the highest price). Where pricing cannot be determined (vendor does not supply price and public sources do not exist), a score of 0 is automatically assigned.

In Base5 scoring a number of sub-criteria are specified for each criterion (for example, Longevity, Market Presence, and Financials are sub-criteria of the Viability criterion), and each one is scored on the following scale:

5 - The product/vendor is exemplary in this area (nothing could be done to improve the status).4 - The product/vendor is good in this area (small changes could be made that would move things to the next level).3 - The product/vendor is adequate in this area (small changes would make it good, more significant changes required to be exemplary).2 - The product/vendor is poor in this area (this is a notable weakness and significant work is required).1 - The product/vendor is terrible/fails in this area (this is a glaring oversight and a serious impediment to adoption).

The assigned points are summed and normalized to a value out of ten as explained in Cumulative Scoring above.

Scores out of ten, known as Raw scores, are transposed as-is into Info-Tech’s Vendor Landscape Shortlist Tool, which automatically determines Vendor Landscape positioning (see Vendor Landscape Methodology: Information Presentation - Vendor Landscape, below), Criteria Score (see Vendor Landscape Methodology: Information Presentation - Criteria Score, below), and Value Index (see VendorLandscape Methodology: Information Presentation - Value Index, below).


Vendor Landscape Methodology:Information Presentation – Vendor Landscape

Info-Tech’s Vendor Landscape is a two-by-two matrix that plots solutions based on the combination of Product score and Vendor score. Placement is not determined by absolute score, but instead by relative score. Relative scores are used to ensure a consistent view of information and to minimize dispersion in nascent markets, while enhancing dispersion in commodity markets to allow for quick visual analysis by clients.

Relative scores are calculated as follows:1. Raw scores are transposed into the Info-Tech Vendor Landscape Shortlist Tool

(for information on how Raw scores are determined, see Vendor Landscape Methodology: Scoring, above).

2. Each individual criterion Raw score is multiplied by the pre-assigned weighting factor for the Vendor Landscape in question. Weighting factors are determined prior to the evaluation process to eliminate any possibility of bias. Weighting factors are expressed as a percentage such that the sum of the weighting factors for the Vendor criteria (Viability, Strategy, Reach, Channel) is 100% and the sum of the Product criteria (Features, Usability, Affordability, Architecture) is 100%.

3. A sum-product of the weighted Vendor criteria scores and of the weighted Product criteria scores is calculated to yield an overall Vendor score and an overall Product score.

4. Overall Vendor scores are then normalized to a 20 point scale by calculating the arithmetic mean and standard deviation of the pool of Vendor scores. Vendors for whom their overall Vendor score is higher than the arithmetic mean will receive a normalized Vendor score of 11-20 (exact value determined by how much higher than the arithmetic mean their overall Vendor score is), while vendors for whom their overall Vendor score is lower than the arithmetic mean will receive a normalized Vendor score of between one and ten (exact value determined by how much lower than the arithmetic mean their overall Vendor score is).

5. Overall Product score is normalized to a 20 point scale according to the same process.

6. Normalized scores are plotted on the matrix, with Vendor score being used as the x-axis, and Product score being used as the y-axis.

Vendor Landscape

Champions:solutions with above

average Vendor scores and above average Product

scores.

Innovators:solutions with below

average Vendor scores and above average Product

scores.

Market Pillars:solutions with above

average Vendor scores and below average Product

scores.

Emerging Players:solutions with below

average Vendor scores and below average Product

scores.


Harvey Balls

Vendor Landscape Methodology:Information Presentation – Criteria Scores (Harvey Balls)Info-Tech’s Criteria Scores are visual representations of the absolute score assigned to each individual criterion, as well as of the calculated overall Vendor and Product scores. The visual representation used is Harvey Balls.

Harvey Balls are calculated as follows:1. Raw scores are transposed into the Info-Tech Vendor Landscape Shortlist Tool (for information on how Raw scores are determined, see

Vendor Landscape Methodology: Scoring, above).2. Each individual criterion Raw score is multiplied by a pre-assigned weighting factor for the Vendor Landscape in question. Weighting

factors are determined prior to the evaluation process, based on the expertise of the Senior or Lead Research Analyst, to eliminate any possibility of bias. Weighting factors are expressed as a percentage, such that the sum of the weighting factors for the Vendor criteria (Viability, Strategy, Reach, Channel) is 100%, and the sum of the Product criteria (Features, Usability, Affordability, Architecture) is 100%.

3. A sum-product of the weighted Vendor criteria scores and of the weighted Product criteria scores is calculated to yield an overall Vendor score and an overall Product score.

4. Both overall Vendor score / overall Product score, as well as individual criterion Raw scores are converted from a scale of one to ten to Harvey Ball scores on a scale of zero to four, where exceptional performance results in a score of four and poor performance results in a score of zero.

5. Harvey Ball scores are converted to Harvey Balls as follows:• A score of four becomes a full Harvey Ball.• A score of three becomes a three-quarter full Harvey Ball.• A score of two becomes a half full Harvey Ball.• A score of one becomes a one-quarter full Harvey Ball.• A score of zero (zero) becomes an empty Harvey Ball.

6. Harvey Balls are plotted by solution in a chart where rows represent individual solutions and columns represent overall Vendor / overall Product, as well as individual criteria. Solutions are ordered in the chart alphabetically by vendor name.

Overall Harvey Balls represent weighted aggregates.

Criteria Harvey Balls represent individual Raw

scores.Overall Features Usability Afford. Arch. Overall Viability Strategy Reach Channel

Product Vendor


Stop Lights

Vendor Landscape Methodology:Information Presentation – Feature Ranks (Stop Lights)

Info-Tech’s Feature Ranks are visual representations of the presence/availability of individual features that collectively comprise the Features’ criterion. The visual representation used is Stop Lights.

Stop Lights are determined as follows:1. A single point is assigned to each evaluated feature that is regarded as being fully present, partial points to each feature that is partially

present, and zero points to features that are deemed to be fully absent or unsatisfactory. • Fully present means all aspects and capabilities of the feature as described are in evidence.• Fully absent means all aspects and capabilities of the feature as described are missing or lacking.• Partially present means some, but not all, aspects and capabilities of the feature as described are in evidence, OR all aspects and

capabilities of the feature as described are in evidence, but only for some models in a line.

2. Feature scores are converted to Stop Lights as follows:• Full points become a Green light.• Partial points become a Yellow light.• Zero points become a Red light.

3. Stop Lights are plotted by solution in a chart where rows represent individual solutions and columns represent individual features. Solutions are ordered in the chart alphabetically by vendor name.

For example, a set of applications is being reviewed and a feature of “Integration with Mobile Devices” that is defined as “availability of dedicated mobile device applications for iOS, Android, and BlackBerry devices” is specified. Solution A provides such apps for all listed platforms and scores “Green”, solution B provides apps for iOS and Android only and scores “Yellow”, while solution C provides mobile device functionality through browser extensions, has no dedicated apps, and so scores “Red”.

Feature 1 Feature 2 Feature 4 Feature 5Feature 3

FeaturesFeature 6 Feature 7 Feature 8

Yellow shows partial availability (such as in some models in a line).

Green means a feature is fully present; Red, fully absent.


Value Index

Vendor Landscape Methodology:Information Presentation – Value Index

Info-Tech’s Value Index is an indexed ranking of solution value per dollar as determined by the Raw scores assigned to each criteria (for information on how Raw scores are determined, see Vendor Landscape Methodology: Scoring, above).

Value scores are calculated as follows:1. The Affordability criterion is removed from the overall Product score and the

remaining Product score criteria (Features, Usability, Architecture) are reweighted so as to retain the same weightings relative to one another, while still summing to 100%. For example, if all four Product criteria were assigned base weightings of 25%, for the determination of the Value score, Features, Usability, and Architecture would be reweighted to 33.3% each to retain the same relative weightings while still summing to 100%.

2. A sum-product of the weighted Vendor criteria scores and of the reweighted Product criteria scores is calculated to yield an overall Vendor score and a reweighted overall Product score.

3. The overall Vendor score and the reweighted overall Product score are then summed, and this sum is multiplied by the Affordability Raw score to yield an interim Value score for each solution.

4. All interim Value scores are then indexed to the highest performing solution by dividing each interim Value score by the highest interim Value score. This results in a Value score of 100 for the top solution and an indexed Value score relative to the 100 for each alternate solution.

5. Solutions are plotted according to Value score, with the highest score plotted first, and all remaining scores plotted in descending numerical order.

Where pricing is not provided by the vendor and public sources of information cannot be found, an Affordability Raw score of zero is assigned. Since multiplication by zero results in a product of zero, those solutions for which pricing cannot be determined receive a Value score of zero. Since Info-Tech assigns a score of zero where pricing is not available, it is always in the vendor’s best interest to provide accurate and up to date pricing. In the event that insufficient pricing is available to accurately calculate a Value Index Info-Tech will omit it from the Vendor Landscape.

Those solutions that are ranked as Champions are differentiated for point of

reference.

E

10

D

30

C

40

B

80

A

100 Average Score: 52

Vendors are arranged in order of Value Score. The Value Score each solution achieved is

displayed, and so is the average score.


Vendor Landscape Methodology:Information Presentation – Price Evaluation

Info-Tech’s Price Evaluation is a tiered representation of the three year Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of a proposed solution. Info-Tech uses this method of communicating pricing information to provide high-level budgetary guidance to its end-user clients while respecting the privacy of the vendors with whom it works. The solution TCO is calculated and then represented as belonging to one of ten pricing tiers.

Pricing tiers are as follows:1. Between $1 and $2,5002. Between $2,500 and $10,0003. Between $10,000 and $25,0004. Between $25,000 and $50,0005. Between $50,000 and $100,0006. Between $100,000 and $250,0007. Between $250,000 and $500,0008. Between $500,000 and $1,000,0009. Between $1,000,000 and $2,500,00010. Greater than $2,500,000

Where pricing is not provided, Info-Tech makes use of publicly available sources of information to determine a price. As these sources are not official price lists, the possibility exists that they may be inaccurate or outdated, and so the source of the pricing information is provided. Since Info-Tech publishes pricing information regardless of vendor participation, it is always in the vendor’s best interest to supply accurate and up to date information.

Info-Tech’s Price Evaluations are based on pre-defined pricing scenarios (see Product Pricing Scenario, below) to ensure a comparison that is as close as possible between evaluated solutions. Pricing scenarios describe a sample business and solicit guidance as to the appropriate product/service mix required to deliver the specified functionality, the list price for those tools/services, as well as three full years of maintenance and support.

Price Evaluation

Call-out bubble indicates within which price tier the three year TCO for the solution falls, provides the brackets of that price tier, and

links to the graphical representation.

Scale along the bottom indicates that the graphic as a whole represents a price scale

with a range of $1 to $2.5M+, while the notation indicates whether the pricing was supplied by

the vendor or derived from public sources.

3 year TCO for this solution falls into pricing tier 6, between $100,000 and $150,000.

$1 $2.5M+

Pricing solicited from public sources.


Vendor Landscape Methodology:Information Presentation – Scenarios

Info-Tech’s Scenarios highlight specific use cases for the evaluated solution to provide as complete (when taken in conjunction with the individual written review, Vendor Landscape, Criteria Scores, Feature Ranks, and Value Index) a basis for comparison by end-user clients as possible.

Scenarios are designed to reflect tiered capability in a particular set of circumstances. Determination of the Scenarios in question is at the discretion of the analyst team assigned to the research project. Where possible, Scenarios are designed to be mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive, or at the very least, hierarchical such that the tiers within the Scenario represent a progressively greater or broader capability.

Scenario ranking is determined as follows:1. The analyst team determines an appropriate use case.

For example:• Clients that have multinational presence and require vendors to provide four hour onsite support.

2. The analyst team establishes the various tiers of capability.For example:• Presence in Americas• Presence in EMEA• Presence in APAC

3. The analyst team reviews all evaluated solutions and determines which ones meet which tiers of capability.For example:• Presence in Americas – Vendor A, Vendor C, Vendor E• Presence in EMEA – Vendor A, Vendor B, Vendor C• Presence in APAC – Vendor B, Vendor D, Vendor E

4. Solutions are plotted on a grid alphabetically by vendor by tier. Where one vendor is deemed to be stronger in a tier than other vendors in the same tier, they may be plotted non-alphabetically.For example:• Vendor C is able to provide four hour onsite support to 12 countries in EMEA while Vendors A and B are only able to provide four hour

onsite support to eight countries in EMEA; Vendor C would be plotted first, followed by Vendor A, then Vendor B.

Analysts may also elect to list only the most Exemplary Performers for a given use-case. One to three vendors will appear for each of these purchasing scenarios with a brief explanation as to why we selected them as top-of-class.


Vendor Landscape Methodology:Information Presentation – Vendor Awards

At the conclusion of all analyses, Info-Tech presents awards to exceptional solutions in three distinct categories. Award presentation is discretionary; not all awards are extended subsequent to each Vendor landscape and it is entirely possible, though unlikely, that no awards may be presented.

Awards categories are as follows:

• Champion Awards are presented to those solutions, and only those solutions, that land in the Champion zone of the Info-Tech Vendor Landscape (see Vendor Landscape Methodology: Information Presentation - Vendor Landscape, above). If no solutions land in the Champion zone, no Champion Awards are presented. Similarly, if multiple solutions land in the Champion zone, multiple Champion Awards are presented.

• Trend Setter Awards are presented to those solutions, and only those solutions, that are deemed to include the most original/inventive product/service, or the most original/inventive feature/capability of a product/service. If no solution is deemed to be markedly or sufficiently original/inventive, either as a product/service on the whole or by feature/capability specifically, no Trend Setter Award is presented. Only one Trend Setter Award is available for each Vendor Landscape.

• Best Overall Value Awards are presented to those solutions, and only those solutions, that are ranked highest on the Info-Tech Value Index (see Vendor Landscape Methodology: Information Presentation – Value Index, above). If insufficient pricing information is made available for the evaluated solutions, such that a Value Index cannot be calculated, no Best Overall Value Award will be presented. Only one Best Overall Value Award is available for each Vendor Landscape.

Vendor Awards

Info-Tech’s Champion Award is presented to solutions in the Champion zone of the Vendor Landscape.

Info-Tech’s Trend Setter Award is presented to the most original/inventive solution evaluated.

Info-Tech’s Best Overall Value Award is presented to the solution with the highest Value Index score.


Vendor Landscape Methodology:Fact Check & Publication

Info-Tech takes the factual accuracy of its Vendor Landscapes, and indeed of all of its published content, very seriously. To ensure the utmost accuracy in its Vendor Landscapes, we invite all vendors of evaluated solutions (whether the vendor elected to provide a survey and/or participate in a briefing or not) to participate in a process of Fact Check.

Once the research project is complete and the materials are deemed to be in a publication ready state, excerpts of the material specific to each vendor’s solution are provided to the vendor. Info-Tech only provides material specific to the individual vendor’s solution for review encompassing the following:

• All written review materials of the vendor and the vendor’s product that comprise the evaluated solution.• Info-Tech’s Criteria Scores / Harvey Balls detailing the individual and overall Vendor / Product scores assigned.• Info-Tech’s Feature Rank / Stop Lights detailing the individual feature scores of the evaluated product.• Info-Tech’s Raw Pricing for the vendor either as received from the vendor or as collected from publicly available sources.• Info-Tech’s Scenario ranking for all considered scenarios for the evaluated solution.

Info-Tech does not provide the following:• Info-Tech’s Vendor Landscape placement of the evaluated solution.• Info-Tech’s Value Score for the evaluated solution.• End-user feedback gathered during the research project.• Info-Tech’s overall recommendation in regard to the evaluated solution.

Info-Tech provides a one-week window for each vendor to provide written feedback. Feedback must be corroborated (be provided with supporting evidence), and where it does, feedback that addresses factual errors or omissions is adopted fully, while feedback that addresses opinions is taken under consideration. The assigned analyst team makes all appropriate edits and supplies an edited copy of the materials to the vendor within one week for final review.

Should a vendor still have concerns or objections at that time, they are invited to a conversation, initially via email, but as required and deemed appropriate by Info-Tech, subsequently via telephone, to ensure common understanding of the concerns. Where concerns relate to ongoing factual errors or omissions they are corrected under the supervision of Info-Tech’s Vendor Relations personnel. Where concerns relate to ongoing differences of opinion they are again taken under consideration with neither explicit not implicit indication of adoption.

Publication of materials is scheduled to occur within the six weeks immediately following the completion of the research project, but does not occur until the Fact Check process has come to conclusion, and under no circumstances are “pre-publication” copies of any materials made available to any client.


Product Pricing Scenario

Info-Tech Research Group provided each vendor with a common pricing scenario to enable normalized scoring of Affordability, calculation of Value Index rankings, and identification of the appropriate solution pricing tier as displayed on each vendor scorecard.

Please price out the lowest possible three year Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) - including list prices for software and licensing fees, 24x7x365 telephone support, maintenance, and warranty - to meet the requirements of the following scenario.

Three-year total acquisition costs will be normalized to produce the Affordability raw scores and calculate Value Index ratings for each solution.

The pricing scenario:

Company X is considering the purchase of a disk-based backup appliance, and would like quotations from the leading vendors in the market. As a mid-sized organization, it requires a total usable capacity of at least 35TB.

The basic requirements for the appliance that Company X has outlined are as follows:

• Target side deduplication

• Ease of management through software that provides performance reports, notifications, etc.

• Ability to be used as a network storage target or virtual tape library or both

• Easy setup with pre-installed software

Integration with software of major players in the market (e.g. CA, Symantec, CommVault, etc.)

vendor landscape: disk backup

Documents