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Dell Technologies DataIQ [EOL] vs IBM Storage Protect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 16, 2025

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 Technologies DataIQ [EOL]
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Storage Protect
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Backup and Recovery (12th)
 

Featured Reviews

Jan Zentgraf - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at IXPACK GmbH
A stable and scalable tool that can be used to monitor and analyze data
The product is used to analyze data. It was purchased as part of a package including Isilon installation The product can be used to analyze data usage. I have a big confusion between InsightIQ and DataIQ. I do not know which product is going to be retired. There are many rumors, but we have no…
reviewer2787573 - PeerSpot reviewer
Interim Head of Infrastructure at a real estate/law firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Backup coverage has supported immutable protection and now needs a more modern, intuitive interface
IBM Storage Protect is from a previous generation of backup software. In those days, backup software was complex in setting up and complex to manage. The new software, such as Rubrik, is very easy to use and more relatable to younger engineers because its interface design is more similar to Office 365 and the newer controls and labels that we are accustomed to. The difficulty that we now have with IBM Storage Protect is that for this day and age, compared to other products that are out there, it seems complex. If we look back 15 years ago, all enterprise class backup software was complex, so IBM was not any different. However, many of these older systems, such as Commvault, still have the same complaint that they are very complex because they have tried to keep that same interface and the same way it works. This suits them, but it probably needed a complete overhaul to bring it into the ease of use that we have with modern software. However, that upgrade has not been done. IBM Storage Protect has not been upgraded into a modern platform. It still looks a legacy platform.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product can be used to analyze data usage."
"It is a really scalable solution. We can scale it up. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten."
"In the past, one of the most valuable features, and the biggest advantage, was the incremental forever feature. Not many other backup vendors provided that. In the pre-virtualization environment, it was very robust and simple technology, especially writing to tape."
"The components of IBM Spectrum Protect explain how the data is protected. The administration is very easy, and the vertical migration is intuitive."
"IBM Storage Protect is very scalable, it is one of the most scalable platforms, and that is its strong point."
"It's a very stable product, and we've never had any downtime with it."
"The main thing is to keep the data safe and in files, keep it on tape ready for a request from a bank, and it is working perfectly with all our hardware."
"The backup on real-time, especially for the virtual machine, archiving, and retrieving the reader from the backup repository and getting it online, getting it validated, then performing the data consistency check over the backup."
"Our customers have come to trust IBM."
 

Cons

"The solution’s GUI is a little bit confusing."
"I would love to see something which allows us to do an auto restart of backup jobs."
"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."
"It can be improved for large file systems with many files. Spectrum Protect can restore large files very well, but if you're restoring millions of little files, it is not as great. At one point, we tried to implement the VMware module with it, and it was awful and terrible. I don't know if that has improved. If it hasn't, this would be one big improvement."
"We have had some problems about using storage agents on the X6 environment. It is not quite stable, but it is also not supported in a virtualized environment."
"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."
"Enhancements are required for backing up our virtual environment."
"If you take Spectrum Protect into account, and you have it along with restrictions to Spectrum Archive by means of LTFS, this is also something which should be made better within the overall product's program."
"I would like a little more ease with the virtual platforms, because it is a huge thing that is coming up."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The licensing fees are on a yearly basis, which for us it is about R400,000 (approximately $27,000 USD)."
"It is expensive."
"It is fairly reasonable as compared to other solutions in the market."
"IBM Spectrum Protect can be considered an averagely-priced product."
"We pay for a terabyte license to support our backend usage."
"Licensing can be either complicated or simple depending on what type of licensing you wish to use and what works best for your environment."
"The solution is not cheap."
"I rate the pricing a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is not cost-effective, and ten is cost-effective."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
University
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Healthcare Company
9%
Retailer
9%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business53
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise95
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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?
I do not know the current licensing cost for IBM Storage Protect and how we get our support because our licensing model is not quite standard. We do not buy IBM Storage Protect direct from IBM. We ...
What needs improvement with IBM Storage Protect?
IBM Storage Protect is from a previous generation of backup software. In those days, backup software was complex in setting up and complex to manage. The new software, such as Rubrik, is very easy ...
 

Also Known As

Dell EMC DataIQ
IBM Spectrum Discover
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
CEMEX
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