This IDC study assesses 10 software vendors that are participating in the data protection and recovery software (DPR) market in Europe. Vendor selection included the top 10 vendors in this market. This assessment discusses both quantitative and qualitative characteristics that explain success in this important market. The data protection and recovery software market is a mature market driven by incumbent vendors, which more recently has been disrupted by technology trends such as server virtualization, disk-based backup, and cloud services, giving space to innovative emerging vendors with specific point solutions.
"A diverse mix of vendors competes in the Western European market for data protection and recovery software solutions," said Carla Arend, research director, European Datacenter Software, IDC. "Some are smaller specialists, others are large software vendors. Some have evolved their products over many years and many are currently merging acquired technology assets, while others have built out modules organically with less functional breadth. Ultimately, each vendor has a unique set of strengths and weaknesses. It is very important for buyers to identify their particular requirements and match these with vendor capabilities. The most appropriate vendor is likely to vary significantly depending on the requirements."
The IDC MarketScape study uses a rigorous scoring methodology that produces a definitive assessment of each vendor's current market capabilities and strategies for competing in the future.
Additional key findings include:
- Data protection and recovery software buyers should move toward a platform approach to data protection. Instead of managing point products for each storage-related task (backup, archiving, replication, etc.), it is more efficient to design data management services that take into account performance, availability, and retention requirements, and manage data accordingly.
- Data protection and recovery software buyers should consider data protection as one part of their larger software-defined datacenter strategy. Storage, and in particular data protection, is an essential component for business continuity and disaster recovery. Consequently, data protection needs to become a service under a data management service catalogue, that manages data backup and retention according to defined service levels for business processes.
- Data protection and recovery software buyers should investigate the value of alternative delivery models. Cloud storage is rapidly maturing into a valid alternative to traditional on-premises deployment models. Appliances are also increasingly popular as a delivery model, and many organizations benefit from this acquiring storage software in the appliance form factor.
The study - IDC MarketScape: European Data Protection Software, 2012 Vendor Analysis (IDC #IM03V, October 2013) - is a new vendor assessment and market analysis profiling and ranking the leading providers in the data protection and recovery software market in Europe using the IDC MarketScape model. The study covers 10 established and emerging vendors: Acronis, ASG Software Solutions (formerly Atempo), CA Technologies, CommVault, Dell (formerly Quest Software), EMC, HP, IBM, Symantec, and Veeam.
About IDC MarketScape
The IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of IT, telecommunications, or industry-specific suppliers in a given market. The research methodology uses a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each vendor's position within a given market. The IDC MarketScape provides a clear framework in which the product and service offerings, capabilities and strategies, and current and future market success factors of IT, telecommunications, or industry-specific vendors can be meaningfully compared. The framework also provides technology buyers with a transparent foundation to allow companies to independently compare the strengths and weaknesses of current and prospective vendors.