By Brandon Farris, Quest product marketing manager for NetVault
Recently, Quest Software (now part of Dell) worked with TechValidate to get a better picture of the challenges that IT professionals experience with regard to data protection, and why they chose NetVault. More than 200 IT professionals responded, including C-level decision makers (CTOs and CIOs), as well as a broad range of IT administrators (system administrators, network, and storage administrators), each of whom is responsible for managing certain aspects of their organizations’ data protection programs. Companies ranging in size and across all market segments participated in the survey.
We found that virtually every major trend impacting IT today is making backup and recovery more challenging and more complex—from rampant data growth to widespread adoption of server virtualization and the trend toward distributed computing. (Interestingly, our own John Maxwell, as well as analyst George Crump of Storage Switzerland, joined Dana Gardner of BriefingsDirect for a podcast discussion on this very subject. It’s well worth a listen for anyone looking to simplify data protection across the enterprise.)
As a result, a growing number of organizations spanning SMB to enterprise are prioritizing the need for simplicity and reliability from their data protection solutions, and we’re happy to report that companies continue to seek and find those very attributes from NetVault Backup.
According to the Quest/TechValidate survey, prior to deploying NetVault Backup, 58 percent of customers struggled with poor backup performance, 42 percent were forced to use multiple backup solutions, and 34 percent grappled with unreliable recoveries. (Source: TechValidate. TVID: TVID: 49F-C22-16D)
Moreover, 29 percent of customers surveyed felt their previous backup solution lacked the necessary support for new platforms and applications, while an additional 23 percent of customers were challenged by the need for costly support and upgrades. (Source: TechValidate. TVID: TVID: 49F-C22-16D)
After switching to NetVault Backup, however, customers were able to achieve their desired backup and recovery performance without having to make sacrifices with regard to simplicity and ease of use.
According to the survey, the majority of respondents chose “ease of use” and “reliability” as the top two reasons why they’d recommend NetVault Backup to others.
Specific to ease of use, fully 55 percent of customers were able to install NetVault Backup and configure their first backup job within 3 hours or less; and just as importantly, nearly two-thirds of them were able to install and configure the product using only internal resources, without the need for costly external support. (Source: TechValidate. TVID: A45-06D-363 and B5B-513-9F1)
Additionally, more than 60 percent of Quest customers spend just two hours or less each week monitoring and managing NetVault Backup, a testament to the solution’s overall simplicity and reliability. (Source: TechValidate. TVID: EF4-D76-E4C)
Though we love seeing statistics that validate our commitment to simplifying backup and recovery, nothing makes us happier than hearing directly from our customers and partners about how NetVault has helped them address the many challenges that come with protecting an enterprise environment. Here’s a small sampling of some of the many positive comments we received:
Tyler Dalzell, Systems Administrator, Alter Ego: “We back up close to 200 terabytes of data, so we need a product that can truly perform in an enterprise backup environment, and we need one that works – and works well – on multiple platforms. That’s what we get with NetVault Backup. It’s simple enough that the average computer user can learn how to use it in no time, and yet it works equally well for us across Windows, Linux, and even Mac. With Quest and NetVault Backup, we never get left behind when operating systems are upgraded or we need to move to a different version of a given platform. Plain and simple, this product does what it’s supposed to do.”
Rick Monheim, Systems Administrator, Security First Bank: “As a community bank, it’s imperative for us to have a simple yet reliable way to protect important data and information. NetVault Backup gives us that balance. As far as backup software goes, it’s incredibly easy to use, yet it’s also comprehensive and reliable. Anytime we need to recover lost or misplaced files, we know we can count on NetVault Backup.”
Robby Wright, Chief Technical Consultant and CTO, Abtech Systems: “We’ve been a reseller of NetVault Backup for many years, and there are a number of reasons customers continue to gravitate toward the product. First and foremost, it just flat works, and in this industry, that’s not always a given. It’s amazing how much nursing you have to do with some other products, but with NetVault Backup, it’s set it and forget it, and that’s huge. The other major differentiator is that you can back up just about anything with it. We’ve had customers using five products that were able to consolidate down to one with NetVault. The coverage is that broad. In my business, the best products are the ones I sell to the customer and then never hear about again, except to buy more. NetVault Backup is among the select few in that group.”
Clearly, NetVault customers are a satisfied lot. But that doesn’t make us want to rest on our laurels. In fact, the opposite is true. Hearing such positive feedback from our customers make us want to push the envelope more aggressively than ever before, and develop newer, better ways for companies to simplify backup and recovery to an even greater degree. That’s why you’ll find a host of innovative new features in the coming release of NetVault Backup 9.0, including full integration with NetVault Extended Architecture (NetVault XA). If you haven’t seen NetVault XA in action yet, prepare to be wowed. It’s like nothing the backup and recovery industry has ever seen. But, as we’re fond of saying around here, don’t take our word for it. Join the NetVault XA beta program today and be among the first to experience everything this new technology has to offer.