Integrated backup appliances did not exist in the minds of many backup administrators four years ago when Symantec brought an innovative approach to the backup appliance world: a customer-focused strategy designed to reduce complexity in the crucial but often confounding world of data protection.
Yet these appliances - integrating scalable backup and recovery software, optimized storage and data deduplication in one easy to install and manage package –soon were winning the hearts of enterprises around the globe. Symantec customers adopted the new form factor in big numbers because they saw it saving them valuablebudget and resources that could be put to more strategic use. In fact, enterprises working with Symantec reported an average 39% reduction in operational expenditures (OpEx) as a result of this practical innovation.
That initial solution was just the beginning. Customers needed a solution intelligent enough to protect their data in ways that went beyond just providing a recovery point. The appliance form factor allowed us to further innovate and integrate complementary solutions that were already part of Symantec’s portfolio: Critical Systems Protection (CSP), to harden the system against zero-day attacks and other threats; Storage Foundation for optimized disk management; and Wide Area Network (WAN) acceleration for optimized data movement-- to name just a few. It also provided the perfect platform for delivering advanced features like the ability to power up virtual machines from backup storage – known as Instant Recovery -- which delivered 400 times faster recovery. And, so far, the market agrees with us.
The integrated backup appliances story is continuing to shape our customers’ thinking and strategy as well, asevidenced by the creation of the integrated appliances category in 2012 by IDC. This global analyst firm currently reports on the Purpose-Built Backup Appliances (PBBA) market, and our relative growth in market share in that category, which went from 0% in 2010 when we launched, to 38% in 2013 – a short span of just three years.
Today, our Symantec integrated appliances are #2 in overall share of the PBBA market, which includes target appliances (like Data Domain) – a much older and slower growing segment of the PBBA market. In fact, the integrated appliances category is growing at 3x the rate of the target appliance category. Integrated appliances are a critical part of our product strategy and approach to data protection going forward. We think the numbers, and our customers, speak for themselves.
“NetBackup Appliances have reduced data volumes by up to 55 percent, lowered the number of failed backup jobs from 20 to four percent, and introduced agile and streamlined end-user reporting,” according to Alvaro Mata, Platform Manager of Arsys.
Rodney Davenport, Chief Technology Officer for the State of Michigan, adds “Our appliance based data protection approach will be a critical part of the agile data center infrastructure that will facilitate our build out of cloud services – both public and private.
The good news is that we’re not alone anymore in evangelizing a data protection strategy that includes integrated backup appliances. In addition to customers,industry analysts, such as IDC, who first recognized the value of both integrated appliances and Symantec’s unique approach to the category, have validated the strategy. Analyst firm Enterprise Strategy Group has also been quick to capture the appliance value model in its research on the topic, which includes a lab review (link below). We also see competitors in the market who were stark opponents of the strategy in the past, yet have more recently begun to entertain their own backup appliance development efforts. And last, but certainly not least, Gartner, which included this year integrated backup appliances into their latest Magic Quadrant (MQ) for Enterprise Backup Software and Integrated Appliances.
While this recognition is a step in the right direction, we believe that some firms, notably Gartner, are underestimating the impact of integrated appliances on the larger backup market in their analysis. Enterprises should consider a complete spectrum of resources as they assess whether an integrated appliance meets their needs. Here are a few of the top resources that we believe give a proper representation of the integrated appliance market.
The Evolution and Value of Purpose-Built Backup Appliances (IDC)
ESG Lab Review: Symantec NetBackup 5230 Appliance
Building the Business Case for Integrated Backup Appliances
Symantec integrated backup appliances include storage, deduplication, backup and recovery all in a single platform. With offerings designed for performance and simplicity in both large-scale enterprise and smaller commercial environments, more and more customers are replacing their “build-your-own” backup servers with an integrated backup appliance from Symantec.
If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits that come from “going integrated”, please contact your Symantec sales rep. You can also view these videos from customers who have successfully implemented Symantec integrated appliances:
We welcome your comments and the chance to discuss the critical issue of protecting your company’s data.