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IBM Spectrum Protect vs NetApp AltaVault 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

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
NetApp AltaVault
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
57th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (12th), Disk Based Backup Systems (6th), Cloud Backup (46th), Cloud Storage Gateways (6th)
 

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 NetApp AltaVault is 0.2%, down from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Naveen Radhwani - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable, fulfils compliance requirements, and enables to manage data backups easily
I use the solution for backup and recovery Our systems have become more stable and scalable after using NetApp AltaVault. The dashboard is useful for managing data backups. The deduplication technology helps me take offline backups efficiently. The workload on the end team has been reduced. It…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We cannot live without it, since it gives us the confidence to move forward."
"We have a very good team of administrators who know the product perfectly and are able to manage it on a day-to-day basis."
"The MN backup for a cluster is most valuable because it has made backing up the GSF as a zero-file system easier. I like its stability a lot. Over the years, I very rarely had a problem with it."
"Incremental forever: This feature helps us reduce backup time and backup storage space."
"Our customers have come to trust IBM."
"Incremental backup is highly valuable as it allows for significant time and cost savings."
"They have recently added support tickets specifically engineered around performance. This has been very useful for us when we run into issues where customers are looking to try to squeeze a lot more horsepower out of older system."
"The D2D2T archive of my PACS data improved after I put Spectrum Protect 8.1.4 into production."
"The most valuable feature is the portability of large archived data. You're able to put things on large on-prem, low-cost storage and then augment that with even lower cost storage in the cloud."
"Its initial setup is easy."
"The solution can be used for all Office 365 applications."
"The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that it is easy to use and integrate with whichever operating systems you use, providing you with a complete view, especially when you plan to migrate to some other operating system."
"Being able to move data seamlessly from one-premise to the cloud (Azure). It works great. The backup solution is perfect for us."
"The deduplication engine. Right now, we're at about 10.5 to 11 times deduplication of our backup data."
"The dashboard is useful for managing data backups."
"Most importantly is having that island into that datacenter, and being able to address things in the same console. Thus, it is irrelevant where it's stored."
 

Cons

"I need two separate solutions for virtual and physical systems. I need IBM Spectrum Protect Plus for virtual systems and Spectrum Protect for physical systems and that's a pain. It would be an improvement if they were combined."
"We need better protection from ransomware or the ability to identify ways we can protect ourselves from ransomware. Having backups is one thing, but specifically, we need methods to recover if we have a ransomware attack."
"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."
"The solution is evolving, so it has to be evolved to fit all new types of software requirements too."
"I would like to advance reporting and analytics for the platform to see how much data is coming into the platform. how much data is expiring everyday, and what tape savings we are getting through reclamation."
"When it comes to virtualization in IBM it's not perfect."
"The features should be a little bit closer together."
"This solution is not mature in terms of disaster recovery and could be improved."
"The initial setup phase of the tool was difficult."
"It would be nice if the solution was more complete. Many customers are looking for a single solution or silo that they can manage everything from. It would be nice, instead of having different products, if everything a client needed was in one solution."
"More capacity with the basic model of the AltaVault would probably help out."
"I would like to see more web support."
"The solution needs faster indexing."
"What could be helpful is different user base authentication so then maybe we could allow different customers to point to a single appliance and they only see the backups and things that they have."
"The product must provide multi-gate connectivity."
"More than a 500 volume limit. At the moment, it only supports up to 500 volumes for SnapMirror and that's a problem. We've got 750, so a larger limit for volume replicas for SnapMirror."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is a little expensive for our current employer, so they want to move to a cheaper solution."
"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."
"The solution is expensive."
"Going to IBM Tech University Conference saved me from making a major purchase of the wrong thing, which was very helpful."
"We have capacity licensing. We use the front end. The capacity licensing is pretty okay on the licensing price. I used to use the old PVU-based licensing in the early environment, but now we use capacity-based licensing."
"Spectrum Protect is not expensive, and it is simple to use."
"IBM Spectrum Protect has a fixed price and includes no additional costs."
"Regarding retro-compatibility of the product between versions, your data is always available and the ROI is unquestionable."
"It is a rather expensive program."
"It's quite cost-effective."
"The pricing is not too bad, but could be a little better."
"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution, which comes to around 3,000 USD."
"The price is a bit high."
"In one use case, and we have several, to run for a particular customer, the price is about $375,000 a year."
"You could compare it to a Dell EMC or ECS, and I think it's probably a little less costly than that. Within the marketplace, it's a medium cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
9%
University
7%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Real Estate/Law Firm
10%
Government
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect?
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 dash...
Is NetApp AltaVault compatible with AWS?
Hello. Yes, it is compatible with AWS but the great thing about it is that it's actually working with so many cloud providers, it may be just for everyone. Besides the Amazon cloud services, NetApp...
Can AltaVault be used for data reduction?
Hello, you can definitely use NetApp AltaVault for reducing your data and giving yourself some more storage. This product offers you deduplication and compression, helping you achieve that. I'm su...
What kind of security does NetApp AltaVault give you?
My organization is very happy with the security that NetApp AltaVault gives us for our data on the cloud. First, it gives us the option for data recovery, which is very good, especially if someone...
 

Also Known As

IBM TSM, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager
AltaVault
 

Overview

 

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
Blach Construction, NASA, Riggs, Counselman, Michaels & Downes, Seminole County Public Schools and Spot Trading
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Spectrum Protect vs. NetApp AltaVault and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.