IBM Spectrum Protect vs Iron Mountain Connect comparison

IBM and Iron Mountain are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. IBM is ranked #17 with an average rating of 7.2, while Iron Mountain is ranked #69. IBM holds a 2.2% mindshare in BRS, compared to Iron Mountain’s 0.3% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Iron Mountain users who would recommend it.

IBM Spectrum Protect

Read 149 IBM Spectrum Protect reviews

4,073 Views
3,133 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

Iron Mountain Connect

Read 2 Iron Mountain Connect reviews

408 Views
305 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Spectrum Protect

Iron Mountain Connect

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

IBM Spectrum Protect and Iron Mountain Connect are two leading solutions in the data protection market. Users are generally happier with IBM Spectrum Protect's pricing and support, though Iron Mountain Connect is appreciated for its extensive feature set.

Features: IBM Spectrum Protect's valuable features include automated data protection, scalability, and comprehensive disaster recovery options. Iron Mountain Connect is praised for its secure data management, ease of use, and compliance support. Users favor Iron Mountain Connect for its specialized features, despite IBM Spectrum Protect's strong foundational capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest IBM Spectrum Protect could improve its reporting tool and speed of updates. For Iron Mountain Connect, users desire more flexible integration options and enhanced customization features. This indicates both products have well-defined areas needing refinement, with IBM Spectrum Protect facing technical challenges and Iron Mountain Connect requiring better adaptability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Spectrum Protect is reviewed as complex but manageable with strong customer service backing. Iron Mountain Connect is noted for its straightforward deployment process and reliable customer assistance. Comparatively, Iron Mountain Connect offers a smoother initial setup experience, while both provide solid support.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Spectrum Protect is often seen as cost-effective with a stable ROI, whereas Iron Mountain Connect is considered expensive but justifiable due to its feature set. Users feel IBM Spectrum Protect offers better value for its price, though Iron Mountain Connect’s feature-rich environment justifies its higher cost.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Iron Mountain Connect Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Iron Mountain Connect

April 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 849,686 peers since 2012

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

IBM Spectrum Protect

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

17th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

149

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Iron Mountain Connect

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

69th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

8.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM Spectrum Protect is 2.2%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Iron Mountain Connect is 0.3%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

Syed Habib

Head of Infrastructure Security (S.A.V.P) at EXIM Bank Ltd

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.

Read full review

Raj Bhaduri

Enterprise architect at Centrica

Good policies related to data

I primarily use it for various policies related to data, such as data retention, data deletion, and archiving policies. All policies can be set using this system The most valuable feature for me is the policy management capabilities. I would like to see more integration with different platforms,…

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

"From a tech perspective, utilizing deduplication is one of the most valuable features."

"The solution is really scalable."

"The solution is very stable. It is one of the most important features that we look for in a product before putting it into the market and when establishing a strategy with our customers."

"All other products contain the same features, but when I'm backing up an IBM Power server I feel more comfortable with IBM Spectrum Protect because it's the same vendor."

"Instead of taking three different backups of your systems, you're taking only one. You're able to crack that open and get what you need. The incident recovery, where it creates the VM and then you're running it, technically you're running it on Spectrum Protect. But then in the background, it's doing the storage motion and moving it off the Spectrum Protect back to your VMware environment. The users don't know the difference."

"I've had no problems with the stability of this solution."

"The ability to do dedupe in the product is nice to have."

"We cannot live without it, since it gives us the confidence to move forward."

More IBM Spectrum Protect pros

"The most valuable feature for me is the policy management capabilities"

Cons

"If you take Spectrum Protect into account, and you have it along with restrictions to Spectrum Archive by means of LTFS, this is also something which should be made better within the overall product's program."

"It does not do too well in our virtual environment."

"It would be helpful if the solution included some sort of ransomware protection."

"I want a better user interface, support, and integrations."

"Our new leadership has pushed us to go more toward the cloud, so we are definitely going to leverage anything we can in that direction."

"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 stability could be improved."

"We would like to see bare-metal restorers."

More IBM Spectrum Protect cons

"I would like to see more integration with different platforms."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is really expensive. Its price is not good for Latin America. Its price is good for the United States or Europe."

"The solution has a capacity based licensing, front and back-end license."

"The product is not cheap."

"IBM provides an open license policy, which is more like a gentlemen's agreement."

"For my company, the tool is affordable and reasonable...I don't think most people know that when a company has large systems in place, the TCO is a lot lower."

"The solution is expensive."

"Licensing can be either complicated or simple depending on what type of licensing you wish to use and what works best for your environment."

"The pricing model of this solution is another difficult area, it's very sophisticated in the way they charge. It's based on PBU, which is a type of processor, how, many processors, and you need to put everything into an equation. However, they have different ways of charging or licensing. One way is a back-end volume or front-end volume, which is quite complicated."

More IBM Spectrum Protect pricing and cost advice

Information not available

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Backup and Recovery solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

University

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Spectrum Protect?

IBM Spectrum Protect is stable.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Protect?

It's expensive. I acknowledge the cost associated with it.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect?

See all answers

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

Comparisons

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 18% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 18% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 10% of the time

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 10% of the time

More IBM Spectrum Protect Competitors

Veeam Data Platform vs Iron Mountain Connect

Compared 32% of the time

Rubrik vs Iron Mountain Connect

Compared 29% of the time

More Iron Mountain Connect Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect

April 2025

Download IBM Spectrum Protect product report

Buyer's Guide

Backup and Recovery

April 2025

Download Iron Mountain Connect product report

Also Known As

IBM TSM, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager

No data available

Overview

IBM Spectrum Protect (Tivoli Storage Manager) is a data protection platform that gives enterprises a single point of control and administration for backup and recovery. It is the flagship product in the IBM Spectrum Protect (Tivoli Storage Manager) family. It enables reliable, cost effective backups and fast recovery for virtual, physical and cloud environments of all sizes.

IBM

Connected Accounting&ERP is a mid-range accounting program with single user and network editions for Macintosh and Windows operating systems. Connected can be shared concurrently by both Mac OS and Windows users on a single data file. Connected "Core Accounting" consists of the General Ledger, Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable modules. Connected "Enterprise" builds on the Core Accounting aspects by adding powerful inventory, job costing, and currency additions. Pricing starts at $399.00.

Iron Mountain

Sample Customers

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

University of La Verne

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Iron Mountain Connect

April 2025

Free Report: IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Iron Mountain Connect

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Iron Mountain Connect and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Iron Mountain Connect report.

See our list of best Backup and Recovery vendors.

We monitor all Backup and Recovery reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.