Storage Management Strategies for the CIO
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Initial product quality
In the initial product quality section, we asked respondents to tell us about their experiences when first using a product. According to respondents, BakBone NetVault is the easiest product to deploy among enterprise and SMB products. NetVault rated a 6.38 for "This product is easy to install," while CommVault Galaxy placed second with a 5.55. The highest rated SMB product for this statement was EMC Retrospect, which placed third overall with a 5.52.
Ease of use is another important consideration, especially in a product category not noted for its easy operation. "I think the HP product is a little easier to use," says systems engineer Yoho, comparing CA BrightStor ARCserve Backup and HP Data Protector. "I wouldn't call it as easy to use as Word," Johnson & Wales University's Price says of CommVault Galaxy, "but I don't consider it any more difficult than any other backup product I've worked with."
We also wanted to know how users perceive the financial aspects of B/R products. Often, the cost of media exceeds the cost of the backup software itself. Therefore, we asked respondents to tell us how efficiently the products use tape. In this regard, respondents indicated EMC Retrospect as best overall (6.10). Among enterprise products, CommVault Galaxy was rated the best with a 5.90.
We're always interested to see the responses to the statement "This product offers good value for the money." Here again, BakBone NetVault and
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Galaxy led the enterprise group with ratings of 5.85 and 5.79, respectively. These are relatively high satisfaction scores for an often contentious issue that involves money. However, the category ranges down to a "Dissatisfied" rating of 4.25 for EMC NetWorker. Among SMB products, Veritas Backup Exec was rated higher than Retrospect--5.01 to 4.62, respectively. Given that CA scored a 3.63 on this statement, it's fair to say that users aren't overwhelmed by the value delivered by any of these SMB products.
This was first published in November 2006
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