Advanced Needs Drive Storage

Technology advances and partner loyalty are keys to winning the 2005 VARBusiness Annual Report Card (ARC) Enterprise Storage Management Software category.

IBM Tivoli was proof of that in this year's ARC, as well as in the marketplace where it's picking up share against rivals Symantec-Veritas, EMC-Legato and Hewlett-Packard. As customers look for more advanced storage solutions, they're turning to IBM Tivoli and its partners because of Big Blue's improvements in innovation, ease of use and compatibility.

For instance, the upgrade of Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) sported a much simpler interface, which has won over partners and customers alike. TSM's relational-database structure and open API are also strong selling points, partners say, accounting for its high scores in Technical Innovation, and Compatibility & Ease of Integration.

"The key hitters are being able to restore quickly from a disaster, and the virtualization piece is pretty hot," says Bill Steadman, a software product specialist with Sirius Computer Solutions, San Antonio. "They are filling in all the spaces and covering all the environments that make it easier for customers to protect their resources."

Among the most recent additions is Tivoli Continuous Data Protection (CDP) for Files, which provides real-time backup of many file types, including documents, spreadsheets, MP3s and digital photos.

Steadman expects strong demand for CDP, because backing up data every 24 hours isn't good enough anymore.

"It poses a significant impact of not just losing a day's worth of work, but losing another day's worth of work to recover the data," says David Howard, director of technical services at Advanced Systems Group, an IBM Premier Business Partner and infrastructure solution provider in Irvine, Calif.

One of Tivoli's largest rivals in storage-management software is Symantec, which acquired Veritas and launched a new suite of products that add continuous data protection to storage. To date, Tivoli's key advantage is its product's relational-database structure, which is the foundation of TSM. In contrast, products like Symantec's Veritas Backup Exec are based on a flat-file architecture. While Backup Exec supports incremental backups, the architecture requires that the entire system be backed up routinely, Howard notes.

Some customers say Tivoli's downside is "if you do lose the database, you're hosed," Howard says. Nevertheless, TSM is a more scalable architecture, he adds.

With Veritas' latest upgrades, along with new releases from EMC's Dantz and Legato divisions, the competition in the enterprise storage space will be fierce. Everything from the latest disasters to ongoing regulatory-compliance requirements will drive demand.

The jury is still out about whether the Symantec-Veritas marriage can hold its strong edge over Tivoli, despite a major push into continuous data protection and its ultimate integration with TSM.

"I think we have a very strong position against Veritas," says Tricia Jiang, Tivoli's technical attaché.

Among other factors are the slew of rivals that offer various data-protection and storage-system management solutions, including the likes of BakBone, CommVault, Computer Associates, NSI Software and Yosemite Technologies.

While the technology is the key selling point for TSM and its related products, Tivoli offers better support and is easier to do business with, according to ARC participants. Howard says Tivoli is a much better partner than Veritas.

"We were often pitted against partners," Howard says. "The next thing you know, you're fighting among yourselves."

Symantec CEO John Thompson is well aware of Veritas' fractured relationships with partners and has retained 90 percent of Symantec's channel-management team in the merged organization.