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Dell Data Protection Advisor vs IBM Spectrum Protect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

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

Dell Data Protection Advisor
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
28th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Spectrum Protect
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
149
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Dell Data Protection Advisor is 0.5%, down from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Protect is 2.2%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

AnkurGupta1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers seamless integration with robust data privacy features
I am currently working with other companies on data center solutions. In our data center, we work with HP, Dell, and Nutanix on data center build-up and migrations. I work with Dell Data Protection Advisor for cloud, though not extensively, and we provided that solution to one customer and are awaiting their approval. I am a reseller and service provider. We implemented Dell Data Protection Advisor for data privacy, and another team handles data protection and related issues. I did not work extensively on specific features, so nothing particularly stands out. From my reseller and end customer perspective, I would rate Dell Data Protection Advisor an eight out of ten as it is a good solution.
Syed Habib - PeerSpot reviewer
Manageable and comprehensive and integrates robust backup features for core banking
It's adequate for my core banking, however, I am looking for another solution for all systems. It is not compatible with other operating systems like Windows or Linux, and lacks a consolidated dashboard from Browser Spectrum. This is why I am searching for another solution. The product also lacks any centralized graphical user interface (GUI), such as Jarek Pod, and I am limited to using a console-based text user interface, which my local partner handles completely.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It generates very detailed reports, which makes things easier when it comes to IT auditing."
"The deduplication is probably the most valuable feature of that requirement."
"I can increase the tool's licensing as per my requirement with no conditions applied."
"I have never found any glitch in any Dell solution to date."
"It has a lot of stock reports. I believe over 300 canned reports, which for the most part meet a lot of generic needs."
"The reporting feature and the Dell's continuous improvement of the solution are the most valuable features. The solution not only supports Dell Power Products but also other products."
"The platform's most valuable features are data protection and retention."
"The most valuable aspects of the solution are the compression and the duplication."
"The solution is not complex, it's very easy to configure agents or VM backup and restore. Upgrades from one version to another are very fast and the product is very stable."
"We cannot live without it, since it gives us the confidence to move forward."
"The ability to migrate between media over a long period of time. My customers are long-time users, and they have benefited from being able to move between tiers. They have been able to do this within the product."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is application-aware backups."
"The amount of data that it protects with very little storage by doing incremental forever is one of its most valuable features."
"It's very robust and has been on the market for a long time."
"It protects our data. That is what it is there for."
"Our customers have come to trust IBM."
 

Cons

"We have encountered issues where we were unable to pull data from the database server. It should also improve the backward compatibility."
"There is a steep learning curve to use the interface and to create new reports, this could be made easier. If the solution could provide more drag and drop functionality to build more advanced reports that would be very helpful."
"Customization of reports or creating new reports can be difficult. Users need to have a deep knowledge of SQL. 70-80% of customers can't seem to understand how to do it. They don't know how to address reporting. If Dell EMC could simplify it, it would benefit the end-user."
"Dell Data Protection Advisor's feature for data domain protection needs enhancement."
"It is difficult to manage the solution with the available tools. You need to know exactly what are you are doing."
"They should empower their customers with the ability to upgrade this solution as long as it's in the same major release."
"The stability of the solution needs improvement for stand alone users."
"Some minor adjustments could be made regarding the graphical interface and customization options."
"It doesn't integrate with storage pools, with a normal pool. I'd like to see that."
"The solution is evolving, so it has to be evolved to fit all new types of software requirements too."
"One point for improvement for IBM Spectrum Protect is security, as IBM has not been investing as much as in the past."
"It can be improved for large file systems with many files. Spectrum Protect can restore large files very well, but if you're restoring millions of little files, it is not as great. At one point, we tried to implement the VMware module with it, and it was awful and terrible. I don't know if that has improved. If it hasn't, this would be one big improvement."
"The software is very complicated. You have to do a lot of configurations to build a server, and you would need to backup and restore."
"I need to have more than two instances working together. I need a worldwide grid able to have replication between three, four, or five instances."
"We would like to see cloud integration."
"Getting technical support all the necessary diagnostic information is still very painful."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"You have to procure the license when you are ordering or quoting for Dell Data Protection Suite (DPS). DPS is bundled with the suite and comes with a license. However, if you purchase NetWorker separately then you will have to procure the license for DPS separately."
"You need to make an upfront payment for three, five, or seven years and renew the licenses for support. We can do an annual maintenance contract with Dell. I would rate the product's pricing a six out of ten."
"The product pricing has been satisfactory, particularly with the economy of scale in our agreement."
"For pricing, I would rate Dell 2 out of 5. It's affordable."
"The product is affordable."
"If the customer has huge lineup of Dell Products then they receive discount on the pricing."
"It's not very expensive — I think the price is fair."
"It is very scalable, but the downside is that it costs money."
"It is fairly reasonable as compared to other solutions in the market."
"When compared to the cost of other enterprise products, it seems to be in the same range. However, compared to the cost of non-enterprise products, it is really high."
"Customers need to pay for licensing in order to use IBM Spectrum Protect. The customers that have been using it for a long time are okay and happy with it. From a cost point of view, it's better for them to renew their licenses than to go through the difficult process of changing a backup product in their environment, and migrate from one product to another."
"License-wise regarding IBM, it's licensed per terabyte. And that is after compression and deduplication."
"The licensing fees are between $8,000 and $10,000 per year."
"We worked our licensing into a capacity model, which is nice. Now, everything is much simpler to manage from a licensing perspective.​"
"Going to IBM Tech University Conference saved me from making a major purchase of the wrong thing, which was very helpful."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Performing Arts
7%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dell Data Protection Advisor?
The platform's most valuable features are data protection and retention.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell Data Protection Advisor?
The product is satisfactory regarding pricing, setup cost, and licensing.
What needs improvement with Dell Data Protection Advisor?
From a service perspective, improvements are needed at Dell because when customers call, it takes a long time to get a response for calls or emails. Response time is the main problem that needs add...
What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect?
One point for improvement for IBM Spectrum Protect is security, as IBM has not been investing as much as in the past. There is a need for additional layers of security to fill the gaps, which is wh...
 

Also Known As

DPA
IBM TSM, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Nielsen, Trek Bicycle, Cal-Israel Credit Cards
CERN, Einstein Healthcare, Nyherji, Allianz Australia, TZM, ABT Online, NCT, Kindred Healthcare Inc., Cobalt Iron, TransGrid, Baptist Health of Northeast Florida, Cash America, Piedmont Healthcare, RWGV, Arkansas Tech University, British Columbia Institute of Technology
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Data Protection Advisor vs. IBM Spectrum Protect and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
861,390 professionals have used our research since 2012.