Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

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 27.2%, down 29.0% compared to last year.
IBM Storage Protect, on the other hand, focuses on Backup and Recovery, holds 2.1% mindshare, down 2.2% since last year.
Deduplication Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)27.2%
HPE StoreOnce18.5%
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager14.1%
Other40.199999999999996%
Deduplication Software
Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM Storage Protect2.1%
Veeam Data Platform11.4%
Commvault Cloud6.0%
Other80.5%
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

"I find the data to be most valuable."
"The solution is very stable."
"The compatibility within the Dell PowerProtect DD portfolio makes data management more seamless. This integrated solution improves efficiency in our data center and simplifies operations by relying on a single company for servers and storage."
"The features that I have found most valuable with Dell EMC PowerProtect DD are its deduplication feature and its DD Boost protocol for fast transfer, which is amazing."
"Its pricing is not overly expensive."
"We are very satisfied with this solution. It's easy to use and efficient."
"The solution has been awesome over the last ten years, offering stability and reliability, which I recommend for stable storage."
"Stable and scalable suite of solutions with deduplication, apart from data protection, storage, and backup."
"When I have to do disaster recoveries, I can do it with this tool."
"It saves you a lot of storage."
"The platform’s most valuable feature is its ability to verify the recoverability of backups."
"Once setup, you do not need to touch it again. You just need to do a formal check on possibly batch updates."
"It allows us to have one interface."
"The backup is very good. In other backup systems, you need a lot of storage to gain the same backup policy."
"You can do restores very quickly. You can mount a drive and restore it right from the drive."
"The licensing isn't very clear. They should work to simply or clarify the cost structure."
 

Cons

"The price is also a disadvantage. Price is a disadvantage with the PowerProtect as it needs to be cheaper."
"The Data Domain solution appliance is quite expensive. It is on the higher side, but technically or functionally, there is no issue."
"I would like to see integration with public cloud."
"I would like to see some kind of integration with the ransomware in the next release."
"It helps if you have in-depth knowledge in order to use it correctly."
"There is an inconsistency in support quality for Dell PowerProtect DD"
"If we lose the admin password, Dell always asks for separate charges."
"The model 3330 may need improvement."
"This product comes up against other products available that are marketed better but the other products that it's in competition with are a single product and this is one of IBM products. If it could be marketed as more for competitors I think that's where it comes short."
"The most important feature which I wish to be added involves the GUI, the user interface."
"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."
"There have been some sizing issues now, and we are dealing with those."
"We are having a balance issue between the reclamation and the backup function. It has to take the space back from the tapes before it can record to those tapes, but sometimes those two processes are overlapping."
"The solution needs to work on disaster recovery integration. Basically, VMware applications to the cloud, for example. There needs to be integration with the storage, and integration with VMware."
"I would like to see more technical training online. Sometimes, it is a little bit difficult to find, or that I do not really know what I am looking for as somebody who is starting off finding their learning curve."
"In a future release, it would be a benefit to have the ability to add an application as a storage target, as a storage pool. Additionally, they should add more functionality to the administration for the Operation Center."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its price is reasonable."
"The yearly subscription is very affordable for our customers, but the price could be a little cheaper overall."
"Users have to pay a capacity-based licensing fee for the solution."
"The price may be a bit higher than other products in the market, but you will receive ten out of ten support with next-business-day delivery on parts' availability."
"The price of the backup appliance is slightly expensive. Compared to other vendors, the pricing will be slightly higher."
"The price of the solution and support for Dell PowerProtect DD is expensive. We have customers that cannot upgrade to a newer version of the solution because the support is too expensive."
"If we do not move to the cloud solution and stay with our on-premise version we will miss some new features."
"Becoming more expensive."
"I don't have an idea about the pricing. They send that over to someone else, but I know that one of the issues they had was the licensing costs. I don't think they were happy with how they were charged."
"We have found that the pricing is high in our country."
"It can be perceived as expensive since it is designed for enterprise use."
"It's very complicated. Licensing is a pain."
"The solution's pricing is fair. Price-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten."
"That's no longer my department, but I have some past experience with licensing. It is not cheap. I would rate it a three out of five in terms of licensing. In terms of additional costs, there is management overhead. It is a complex solution and a lot of work goes into managing clients. It has gotten better over the years, but compared to its competitor, it is still heavy on management overhead."
"The different license models can give good benefits to the end customer."
"When compared to the cost of other enterprise products, it seems to be in the same range. However, compared to the cost of non-enterprise products, it is really high."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Deduplication Software solutions are best for your needs.
868,759 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

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%
Educational Organization
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)?
The typical use case for Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is for backup purposes; it is disk-based backup, which provides fast backup capabilities. Additionally, data can be replicated from site ...
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 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
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, NetApp and others in Deduplication Software. Updated: September 2025.
868,759 professionals have used our research since 2012.