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CA Allocate DASD Space and Placement vs IBM Storage Protect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 22, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

CA Allocate DASD Space and ...
Average Rating
6.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
Storage Management (10th)
IBM Storage Protect
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Backup and Recovery (21st)
 

Mindshare comparison

CA Allocate DASD Space and Placement and IBM Storage Protect aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. CA Allocate DASD Space and Placement is designed for Storage Management and holds a mindshare of 3.3%, down 3.5% compared to last year.
IBM Storage Protect, on the other hand, focuses on Backup and Recovery, holds 1.6% mindshare, down 2.4% since last year.
Storage Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
CA Allocate DASD Space and Placement3.3%
NetApp OnCommand Insight7.9%
SolarWinds Storage Resource Monitor6.9%
Other81.9%
Storage Management
Backup and Recovery Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Storage Protect1.6%
Veeam Data Platform5.8%
Commvault Cloud3.4%
Other89.2%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

it_user354057 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mainframe Storage Manager at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It's a space recovery product that helps us fix problems before they happen so we work on them after running a job, but I don't want to have to touch a file to make changes or updates.
One of the biggest benefits of CA Allocate is in the cost. We initially went with BMC MainView, which is a great product and a little more user friendly than CA Allocate. But because of our good relationship with CA, we were able to mimic everything we had with BMC. Any issues we had doing that, CA collected them right away to help us. As a space recovery product, CA Allocate helps us fix problems before they happen and then we work on them after we run a job. If somebody does not put the right space parameter, we let the job run and then we fix it after. If somebody does not optimize a data set, we run our reports after talking to these people without ever having an event waste CPU cycles.
reviewer2787573 - PeerSpot reviewer
Interim Head of Infrastructure at a real estate/law firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Backup coverage has supported immutable protection and now needs a more modern, intuitive interface
IBM Storage Protect is from a previous generation of backup software. In those days, backup software was complex in setting up and complex to manage. The new software, such as Rubrik, is very easy to use and more relatable to younger engineers because its interface design is more similar to Office 365 and the newer controls and labels that we are accustomed to. The difficulty that we now have with IBM Storage Protect is that for this day and age, compared to other products that are out there, it seems complex. If we look back 15 years ago, all enterprise class backup software was complex, so IBM was not any different. However, many of these older systems, such as Commvault, still have the same complaint that they are very complex because they have tried to keep that same interface and the same way it works. This suits them, but it probably needed a complete overhaul to bring it into the ease of use that we have with modern software. However, that upgrade has not been done. IBM Storage Protect has not been upgraded into a modern platform. It still looks a legacy platform.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"As a space recovery product, CA Allocate helps us fix problems before they happen and then we work on them after we run a job."
"The product has been there ever since I have been there; the enterprise system along with the hierarchical system, and it is pretty easy to use and maintain."
"Technical support is excellent."
"Scalability, performance, mass platform coverage. It's one of the few backup products on the market right now which an organization can bring in and it will serve all of their backup needs. It's a completely centralized solution."
"Everyone wants a full backup. It gives them safety and peace of mind, like an insurance policy for that rainy day when they may need to restore a system."
"Incremental forever: This feature helps us reduce backup time and backup storage space."
"IBM Spectrum Protect has improved my organization with its total support of IBM products."
"Traditional storage works perfectly with it."
"Because of the flexible parameters, everything can be fine-tuned to the customers’ needs in their environment."
 

Cons

"Allocate is a good product, but it's not there yet in terms of that."
"The solution is evolving, so it has to be evolved to fit all new types of software requirements too."
"Getting technical support all the necessary diagnostic information is still very painful."
"The interface could be more user-friendly."
"The initial setup is complex."
"My customers are not always happy with the Level 1 support. Sometimes, it just takes too long for the response to come, which is probably something that needs to be addressed."
"I think Spectrum Protect's interface is not so user-friendly, but the interface is not so friendly. Some of the functions are too complicated. I prefer a simpler solution."
"Replication of data could be improved and made a little easier to use."
"Most customers still struggle with the reporting piece, especially generating reports. I think it needs some improvements in this area."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"License-wise regarding IBM, it's licensed per terabyte. And that is after compression and deduplication."
"Licensing IBM Spectrum Protect can be somewhat confusing for new users due to the options available, such as licensing on a capacity or per server basis."
"I rate the pricing a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is not cost-effective, and ten is cost-effective."
"You need to put it in a PoC and test it out if you can."
"The solution is expensive."
"Spectrum Protect is not a cheap option."
"That's a hard estimate. It depends on the licensing, the hardware, and other stuff, but it is fairly expensive. It is generally more expensive than other solutions."
"The licensing is varied. If we have small environments (not many TB being managed) it is best to license by PVUs (depending on the number of cores of the machine). If we manage many TBs we look at licensing by capacity which allows us to use all the agents of the product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
19%
Construction Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business53
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise95
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Storage Protect?
I do not know the current licensing cost for IBM Storage Protect and how we get our support because our licensing model is not quite standard. We do not buy IBM Storage Protect direct from IBM. We ...
What needs improvement with IBM Storage Protect?
IBM Storage Protect is from a previous generation of backup software. In those days, backup software was complex in setting up and complex to manage. The new software, such as Rubrik, is very easy ...
What is your primary use case for IBM Storage Protect?
IBM Storage Protect is my primary tool for backup and recovery. We also use it for immutable backups to protect against ransomware. We use IBM Storage Protect for everything on-premises. The benefi...
 

Also Known As

BrightStor DASD Space and Placement
IBM Spectrum Discover
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Tieto
CEMEX
Find out what your peers are saying about NetApp, Dell Technologies, IBM and others in Storage Management. Updated: May 2026.
902,417 professionals have used our research since 2012.