DD Boost vs IBM ProtectTIER comparison

Dell Technologies and IBM are both solutions in the Deduplication Software category. Dell Technologies is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.6, while IBM is ranked #13. Dell Technologies holds a 4.0% mindshare in DS, compared to IBM’s 1.8% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 60% of IBM users who would recommend it.

DD Boost

Read 40 DD Boost reviews

1,549 Views
1,534 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

IBM ProtectTIER

Read 7 IBM ProtectTIER reviews

1,034 Views
279 Comparison Views

60% willing to recommend

DD Boost

IBM ProtectTIER

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

IBM ProtectTIER and DD Boost are data management and protection solutions. DD Boost holds the advantage in integration capabilities and processing speeds.

Features: IBM ProtectTIER offers data deduplication, scalability, and cost-effectiveness, making it ideal for large-scale environments. It enables automatic workload movement across storage tiers. DD Boost enhances backup and recovery speeds, optimizes data flow, and has superior integration capabilities with multiple backup applications.

Room for Improvement: IBM ProtectTIER could improve in integration flexibility and user interface intuitiveness and reduce the configuration complexity in different environments. DD Boost has room for improvement in providing more competitive pricing options, enhancing initial setup flexibility, and expanding cloud capabilities further.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM ProtectTIER offers straightforward deployment but may require more custom configuration. Its support focuses on providing tailored solutions. DD Boost provides a smoother deployment experience with clearer documentation, streamlined processes, and responsive customer service, which aids in quicker problem resolutions.

Pricing and ROI: IBM ProtectTIER offers competitive pricing with a high ROI, especially in scalable solutions. DD Boost, although perceived as having a higher cost, offers value through reduced operational expenses and better performance, providing a more cost-effective long-term investment.

To learn more, read our detailed DD Boost vs. IBM ProtectTIER Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

DD Boost vs. IBM ProtectTIER

February 2026

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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

DD Boost

Ranking in Deduplication Software

4th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IBM ProtectTIER

Ranking in Deduplication Software

13th

Average Rating

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Backup and Recovery (74th)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Deduplication Software category, the mindshare of DD Boost is 4.0%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM ProtectTIER is 1.8%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Deduplication Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
DD Boost	4.0%
IBM ProtectTIER	1.8%
Other	94.2%

Deduplication Software

Featured Reviews

Brijesh Pillai

Regional Manager - Enterprise Sales at Noventiq

Provides robust data protection solutions with room for better pricing options

Dell is a strategic partnership for us as resellers. We rarely focus on PowerProtect Data Manager (PPDM). Every data protection solution vendor offers encryption as part of their solution. This is one of the default standards required for data protection. Regarding Network Efficient Replication on disaster recovery operations, it is definitely effective. Customers get native capability out of the box to do a restoration. Typically, customers look at a secondary copy in the cloud, but primary will be on-premise. While we have a partnership with AWS, we do not buy from the AWS Marketplace. I would recommend this product to medium enterprises to large enterprises. On a scale of 1-10, I rate DD Boost a 7.

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Avdhesh Garg

Technical Lead at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Provides a short-term backup, archive, and cataloging for 20,000 people in our organization

The backup for a large amount of data is slow. When there's a large amount of data, sometimes the backup isn't completed in time. I have a 24 hour cycle, so it doesn't get completed in 24 hours with the large amount of data. With Veritas NetBackup, I can take 20 terabytes of backup in a day.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The initial setup of DD Boost involves a simple procedure."

"We can retain the data for a pretty long time."

"DD Boost serves as a backup appliance providing data deduplication and synchronization, which accelerates processes."

"There are no limitations when it comes to the scalability feature of the product. You can scale up or scale down however much you want."

"It cuts down network traffic, and only the relevant parts move around because it is deduced and encrypted."

"To be sincere, I never had problems with the stability of DD Boost."

"The solution can scale."

"The backup aspect of the solution is its most valuable feature."

More DD Boost pros

"The solution is highly stable."

"In terms of stability, I've found it to be very stable. I've walked into the server room when it was at 60 degrees Celcius, and it was still running fine."

"The command-line interface is good."

"The cataloging is the best feature. It takes millions of frames for the backup. It's incremental, so it takes less time to complete."

"Overall IBM ProtectTIER is a great solution. It is easy to use."

"The most valuable features are the Self-Service, and the ability to search the data."

Cons

"Technical support is okay but could be improved. I've sent a lot of complaints their way and I feel like they might be able to respond a bit better."

"It's a little slow, yet it's working."

"One area that requires improvement is the time needed for cleanup processes."

"The solution could always be cheaper."

"The setup and handover process was not effective, preventing us from leveraging the software's available benefits."

"DD Boost could improve the solution by offering additional customizations that build upon existing features such as deduplication ratios. The primary objective of the solution is to create backups of existing data and push that data out to clients' backup systems. If they can make the process faster and introduce more enhancements, it would greatly benefit the backup environment."

"My customer was interested in ransomware protection. Currently, Dell offers the Cyber Vault solution, which is separate from Data Domain. Ideally, ransomware protection would be integrated directly within DD Boost, without requiring an additional out-of-the-box solution. This feature is currently available with HPE's Zerto and Huawei's Ocean Protect with third-party products like PradoNet. While Cyber Vault exists as a separate solution from Data Domain, having some standard protection for immutable backups into DD Boost would be a valuable addition and make it more competitive with other vendors."

"The product has low capacity."

More DD Boost cons

"I would like the possibility to back up the infrastructure and then replicate it upon on restart, without having to orchestrate the starting of the VM."

"Setting up the system to work with legacy equipment is a bit complex at times."

"The backup for a large amount of data is slow."

"IBM ProtectTIER could improve by being more user-friendly."

"The configuration wizards are still complex and hard to navigate. These should be easier to manage."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"My company must pay approximately 10,000 USD annually, making it an expensive product."

"Dell EMC Data Domain Boost is an expensive product. There are extra costs for support because every year, you have to renew your SLA for support, and the cost is always increasing."

"We scale this product by adding licenses, which are related to capacity."

"The solution is very good because it is easy to use and it speeds up the backup and lowers the requirement for the storage rate. It is capable of encryption, compression, and deduplication and it is fast for sending all of the data over the network because it sends only the change blocks from the client to the DD server."

"The pricing is definitely competitive and unmatchable. The price of Data Domain is very attractive compared to HPE, StoreOnce, or its current alternative, which is probably more expensive."

"You don't have to pay additional costs."

"The cost is monthly."

"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing charges attached to the product. The price of the product is on a higher scale, meaning not everybody can afford it."

More DD Boost pricing and cost advice

"We have a capacity-based license, which is managed centrally for all the sites of my company."

"IBM ProtectTIER is an expensive solution."

"This solution is very expensive."

"The customer can decide how they want to purchase a license. However, the price of the solution is expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Healthcare Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	21
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	12

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about DD Boost?

The time taken for backup is very fast.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for DD Boost?

It's complicated for me because when we buy, we buy a package, so I don't have the DD price. Every Data Domain we buy comes with Boost technology, with the DDoS feature. I don't know the price of D...

See all answers

What needs improvement with DD Boost?

Disadvantages could be in terms of price points because price points are a hindrance at times when we position it with customers. The customer sees it as a complete proposal and will not break it d...

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Comparisons

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain vs DD Boost

Compared 17% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs DD Boost

Compared 14% of the time

Veritas NetBackup Appliance vs DD Boost

Compared 11% of the time

Quantum DXi Series vs DD Boost

Compared 9% of the time

NetApp Cloud Backup vs DD Boost

Compared 5% of the time

More DD Boost Competitors

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain vs IBM ProtectTIER

Compared 16% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs IBM ProtectTIER

Compared 13% of the time

Rubrik vs IBM ProtectTIER

Compared 6% of the time

Barracuda Backup vs IBM ProtectTIER

Compared 6% of the time

NetVault Plus vs IBM ProtectTIER

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM ProtectTIER Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

DD Boost

February 2026

Download DD Boost product report

Buyer's Guide

Deduplication Software

February 2026

Download IBM ProtectTIER product report

Overview

DD Boost software delivers an advanced level of integration with backup applications and data base utilities, enhancing performance and ease of use. Dell also provides a DD Boost File System Plug-In (BoostFS) with DD Boost for even greater application support, which enables all the benefits of DD Boost for applications that use NFS for data protection. Rather than sending all data to the system for deduplication processes, DD Boost enables the backup server or application client to send only unique data segments across the network to the system.

Dell Technologies

IBM TS7650G ProtecTIER Deduplication Gateway is designed to meet the disk-based data protection needs of the enterprise data center while enabling significant infrastructure cost reductions. The solution offers industry-leading inline deduplication performance and scalability up to 1 petabyte (PB) of physical storage capacity per system, and can provide up to 25 PB or more backup storage capacity. Combined with IBM or third-party storage, TS7650G ProtecTIER Deduplication Gateway provides a powerful disk-based repository to improve the performance, retention and availability of backup and archive data in a small footprint for energy and cost efficiency.

IBM

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Durham Police Department, Re-Store LLC, CenterGrid, pixx.io GmbH, Australian Government Department of Defence, QD, Refresco Gerber

Buyer's Guide

DD Boost vs. IBM ProtectTIER

February 2026

Free Report: DD Boost vs. IBM ProtectTIER

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