Exagrid EX Series vs. PowerProtect DD Series

In our environment, we're using Exagrid [EX Series] on Remote/smaller sites, with something around 50TB of data (to be protected) and it works really well. I see no reason for it to work on larger scales, it is very scalable, you can natively replicate backup data between Exagrid appliances (like in a Prod/DR scenario). So, it should work fine on larger environments also.

Incentivized

When used as a backup target PowerProtect DD models offer incredible density and can efficiently replicate to another cloud-based or offsite unit. Most complaints about these have been addressed in software over the years and they are now a intuitive and easily managed backup system. You are not buying a Swiss army knife, you are getting a machine designed for a purpose, use it for that and you will not be disappointed. While they have the ability to serve as a CIFS server, they are not a filer and lack many of the features inherent to filers and are a poor substitute.

Incentivized

• Dedupes and compresses data extremely well. We have a total of 100 TB that seems like a PB for our use case.
• Provides a cifs share platform if that is one of your needs.
• We deployed a physical appliance un our DC that provides us 100TB of storage. It is easily scalable and easy to use.
• Technical support helps you with the upgrade process in case of new release and they are very knowledgeable.
• GUI is easy to use and the product requires no learning curve.

Incentivized

• It writes backups quickly. DDBoost add-on is very useful as well for improving backup speeds.
• DD is very efficient in its use of capacity. It dedupes and compresses very well.
• It spans to large capacity amounts.

Incentivized

• Better integration with cloud environment
• Faster handling interface speed

Incentivized

• Depending on the model of Data Domain, there is a limit to the number of NFS/SMB threads that can run concurrently. When this limit is reached, the system is slow to respond to client requests.
• Data Domain support is very slow to turn out new features and bug fixes in their code.
• OS upgrades are very slow and disruptive.

Incentivized

DD has performed flawlessly for almost 10 years as our backup/recovery storage with offsite replication. Given its track record and great support from EMC, we're unlikely to look elsewhere any time soon.

Incentivized

Customer support has had some ups and downs here. We've had several issues with EMC support before and during the acquisition by Dell, but in the last 18 months support has been top notch. Quick and knowledgeable help is but a chat away, or they will call you back so you don't have to wait on hold. The team supporting us is responsive and is quick to assist with any request or issue.

Incentivized

Lower cost of implementation versus scalability. In addition to promoting a perfect interface with Veem, which has become the company's backup tool. We also had the opportunity with Exagrid [EX Series] to have a global maintenance contract, which meant a reduction in support expenses.

Incentivized

We already had Avamar in place, and since we have a good ecosystem of Dell Solution suite and wanted to evaluate PowerProtect DD also from that perspective, hence we thought of going ahead with it. We knew the limitations with Avamar and PowerProtect DD were right there from that side of the business.

Incentivized

• The exemplary support means I have been able to free up my valuable time to focus on other things.
• I rarely have to think about the product, which means it is doing its job.

Incentivized

• Positive: The high compression (58.0x) and data reduction (98.3%) have allowed us to optimize the storage for efficient usage.
• Negative: even after adding capacity, we are running out of space. Adding capacity adds to the overall TCO (e.g. lease cost).

Incentivized