Andrew Martin

When it comes to choosing “best-of-breed” in data protection the choice is neither simple nor obvious.

What does best-of-breed actually mean? Do we mean best-of-breed vendors that can provide total solutions from the ground up? Or do we mean the best technology for a given purpose?

An interesting analogy to use might be the financial services industry and how we buy insurance. We can go directly to an advisor from a large reputable insurance company or at the other extreme we can work with a third party insurance broker.

We get peace of mind when dealing with the big insurance company advisor, however they can only offer products from their own company. Whilst some of their offerings might be great, quite simply they will not have the best product available for every type of insurance requirement. On the other extreme is the third party broker – they can offer you a choice of products in every field and allow you to select the best one for your needs. However, you may have questions about the broker’s stability or even ethics. And, you may not have heard of some of the products that they offer you.

On balance I have always taken the “broker” approach. Initially it carries slightly more risk, but as an individual broker proves themselves to be trustworthy and stable over time, that risk diminishes. Ultimately, the broker is able to identify and offer me more individualised products that are better for me.

If we bring this back to data protection we see the “one stop shops” that offer solutions on every aspect of data protection including primary storage, storage management, backup and recovery, high availability, provisioning and archive. We also have companies that offer a range of closely linked solutions in specific areas of data protection. My own company, BakBone Software, fits into this category with a range of solutions all closely linked to protection and recovery of data across a wide variety of applications and platforms. Finally, there are point solution companies; more usually (though not always) these are start-up companies and often they get consumed by bigger companies over time. An example would be Asempra. This was a company with a targeted solution for fast recovery of windows applications, acquired last year by BakBone and integrated into the wider portfolio. However, these “point” solution companies need not be small. Another example might be Data Domain, who had developed a global business by the time they were acquired.

The large “one stop shop companies” are often labeled “best-of-breed” by default. They offer integrated total solutions and peace of mind that comes with working with a trusted, established player. However, no one truly believes that every solution on the books of a large player is the best-of-breed in its class.

The other option is to place your trust in the advice of a true value added systems integrator. A good SI will have strong knowledge of offerings from various vendors and assesses what they believe are the best products and build them into a single integrated solution that they vouch for, implement and provide first line support. As a company that works closely with SI’s we often see this happen at BakBone. As an example, it is not uncommon to see our FASTRecover technology integrated into an environment often already using another company’s backup software.

In principle this SI led approach should ensure you get “best-of-breed” for your own precise requirements. However, much depends on the quality and real knowledge of the SI that you work with. As with the insurance broker analogy, this risk is minimised as the SI gains your trust over time by delivering proven projects.

My personal view is that working with a knowledgeable, reputable SI is the best way to get “best-of-breed.” I subscribe to this way of thinking for a number of reasons:

1. No single requirement is the same, therefore no one company can offer the best solution for every data protection requirement that presents itself.
2. New technologies and new ways of doing things are often brought to the market by newer companies.
3. By definition “one stop shops” need to steer customers towards “their view of the data protection world.” By contrast an SI works harder to find solutions that meet how their customer wants to operate.

I understand and accept that “one stop shops” can sometimes be the best option for some companies. However when it comes to choosing “best-of-breed” for your own requirements, it actually comes down to understanding and meeting your own specific needs and the answer will rarely be the same from one company to the next. For that reason, choice and differentiation will always remain vital in choosing what’s best for you.