Backup Exec 15: ‘simpler, more integrated, capacity-priced’

Independent IT market research company, IT Candor, recently sat down with Barnaby Wood, Senior Manager, Solutions Marketing, to discuss Symantec’s new Backup Exec 15 (BE15) – setting it out as a ‘key software solution for backing up, archiving and restoring data.’

Symantec’s BE solution is indeed used by around 2.2 million small-to-medium and mid-range customers while larger customers tend to adopt its NetBackup offering.

The review discusses how Symantec have kept BE relevant by adding support for a number of new operating systems and applications for the new incarnation. Previously criticised for the length of time taken to introduce new versions, Symantec have also now introduced a quarterly cadence to support major new products within 60 days of introduction. They have already beaten this timetable by 30 days by adding support for VMWare’s vSphere 6 in their introduction of BE15 in March of this year. IT Candor notes that Symantec have opted to prioritise platform support over new features.

In its review of BE15, IT Candor goes on to explore the 3 key areas in which Symantec has enhanced the BE solution. These are: extending virtual and cloud; keeping pace with data growth; and reducing cost and complexity.

IT Candor continues: ‘With the introduction of BE15, Symantec has decided to lower the price of its Capacity Edition pricing by up to 42% and introduce a lower-featured ‘Capacity Edition Lite’ version for even cheaper level: prices for the former start at about €3k/TB of front-end data and latter at about €1.8k, with discounts for larger capacities. It’s also making it easier for customers to trade up to capacity pricing whether they have active or inactive maintenance contracts.’

Symantec recently conducted a survey of customers which revealed that they face challenges in 3 key areas, which are trust, planning and performance. That is, they don’t trust their backup processes and their ability to fix problems, don’t know how to plan their DR and backup strategy and want improved performance. Symantec is responding to these challenges by introducing changes to BE’s supported features and platforms, development and announcement schedule of BE to meet customer needs. Therefore customers can expect ‘richer, simpler and more relevant versions of BE going forward.’

To read this full article on IT Candor, please click here.

For more information about Symantec’s Backup Exec 15 solution, please contact your SCC Account Manager.