Evaluating a
DPM Solution
Key
Issues to Consider
 What You Need to Know – and Why
How do you know a
good data protection management (DPM) solution when you see one? Now
that more and more IT organizations are recognizing the critical role
DPM software can play in assuring that valuable corporate assets are
protected, that question seems to be coming up a lot more frequently.
This new class of
software can help ensure that your data protection operations meet
business objectives for service levels, cost and compliance. And the
best of the breed deliver insight that can drive a wide variety of
process improvements. They also answer the fundamental question often
keeping CIOs awake at night: "Is our data protected, and can it
be recovered in the event of a disaster?"
The increasing
interest in automated solutions has been spurred by fast-growing data
stores and the potentially daunting complexity of managing them.
During one recent 12- to 18-month reporting period, for example,
demand for storage hardware rose by 25 to 85%.1 At the
same time, the storage-software market experienced its seventh
consecutive quarter of double-digit annualized growth – with much of
the spending tied to software for data protection and the related
functions of storage resource management and compliance.2
Other factors
behind the growing interest in DPM solutions include:
- Security concerns and
the potential impact of data loss on business continuity
- The looming
possibility of penalties for non-compliance in the event that
lost data cannot be recovered
- Mergers and
acquisitions, resulting in distributed data storage on
heterogeneous systems which must be efficiently managed
- Pressure to control IT
spending, forcing departments to rethink manual data protection
processes that are often costly, time-consuming and error-prone
So what factors do
you need to consider if you’re one of the growing number of IT
executives investigating DPM solution options? Here’s some guidance.
1 Meta Group, as reported in Network Computing, Sept 2004
2 IDC, Worldwide Quarterly Storage Software Tracker,
Q2 2005
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