December 2010
Dec 2010
14
Forrester Market Overview: Enterprise-Class Backup and Recovery Software
Posted by Amrita Chandra
1 Comment
Forrester Research has recently published its 2010 Market Overview on Enterprise-Class Backup and Recovery, in which it outlines key functionality that customers should look for when selecting a solution. In the report’s preamble, the authors say “With dozens of providers, a laundry list of technical features, and the constantly changing landscape, it’s no wonder that many infrastructure and operations professionals would rather take a trip to the dentist than replace their aging backup infrastructure.”
One would assume those professionals will also not be eager to do it again in a couple of years. Although the report does give some attention to traditional tape backup, the underlying theme appears to be “look ahead” – so you won’t have to visit the dentist again soon.”
Of fourteen leading vendors profiled, Asigra stands out as the only product that performs backups without using an agent inside each machine – an important feature that improves hardware performance and minimizes maintenance time and service interruptions.
Only six providers, including Asigra, made Forrester’s recommended list for enterprise data center deployment, where the emphasis is on scalability and performance.
While Asigra covers the bases on established features required by enterprise customers, it positively shines in Forrester’s scorecards for emerging features:
- Source and target-based deduplication for PC, remote offices, and virtual servers
- Virtual machine backups with low overhead
- Operational and disaster recovery (Continuous Data Protection and Replication)
- Restore options (Block/image level, file/generation level, and email message level)
- Disk to disk to cloud
- Archiving and data management
The following quotes from the “Future” section of the Forrester report represent a number of trends, all of which bode well for Asigra’s trajectory in the BURR market:
- “… enterprises are finally making decisive moves about backup, away from tape and toward disk and eventually the cloud.”
- “… when enterprises were asked what storage workloads they planned to move to the cloud, the most common response was the archive.”
- “… what was once considered a backup solution is now more akin to a unified continuity and recovery management suite.”
Asigra is offering complimentary copies of this report, a value of $499. Get your copy here.
Dec 2010
3
Gestalt IT – Tech Field Day Experience
I wanted to write this for quite some time but I have been “crazy busy” with work and celebrating Thanksgiving with family. I cannot believe that it has now been over two weeks since I returned from California where we presented the Asigra product and technology to a group of thought leaders and bloggers.
They were gathered for Tech field Day, a wonderful event hosted by Stephen Foskett and an organization named Gestalt IT. I had a great time and want to thank Stephen and everyone else who helped make it a success. What a fantastic opportunity this was for Asigra. I hope we get the chance to do it again in the future.
The event started with an evening reception at Club Auto Sport in San Jose. There, Asigra’s Corporate Marketing Director, Amrita Chandra and I met the analysts and bloggers I would be presenting to the next day. We enjoyed good food and company along with the opportunity to view some fine automobiles on display.
Next day, Amrita and I had the opportunity to present the Asigra solution and technology in a highly interactive session. Everyone seemed to be genuinely interested in hearing about Asigra - our company, our history, and all the technical details of our product.
At the beginning of the presentation, most everyone said they had never before heard of Asigra. Now several people want the chance to take the software for a spin to check out the features and functionality.
Similarly, I must admit that I had not heard of Gestalt IT before the event. It is an organization made up of independent industry thought leaders, analysts, and bloggers that come together with the purpose of bettering the IT world.
Here is a snapshot from their website, www.gestaltit.com:
What is the Gestalt?
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
What is the best practice for modern IT infrastructure? That can be difficult to decide, especially when the interests of vendors of hardware, software, and services are involved. IT professionals are constantly bombarded by messages and products, so it can be tough to know who to trust.
The best move is to rely on the gestalt: the sum of the best sources of independent input.
That’s the idea behind Gestalt IT: We are collecting the best analysis and commentary from leaders in the fields of virtualization, networking, storage, and desktop engineering.
Who we are
Gestalt IT is maintained by a group of individuals with differing backgrounds but a common focus on enabling the best in IT infrastructure solutions. We work in end-user consulting, integration services, and in-house IT organizations. Although occasional hardware or software vendor-focused content may appear, all posts are reviewed for balance and quality by our editorial staff.
