VMware vSphere Backup Solutions from 35+ Providers

Published on September 19, 2024, this market report was written by Jerome M. Wendt, president and lead analyst of DCIG, Inc.

DCIG Initiating Research into VMware vSphere Backup Solutions from 35+ Providers
It is updating its research into backup solutions for VMware vSphere to help organizations make more informed choices about available solutions in the marketplace.

Dcig Vmware Vsphere Backup Solutions

VMware vSphere Backup Still Needed
Despite Broadcom’s recently announced VMware software and pricing licensing changes, many organizations will remain on VMware for the foreseeable future. The many features available in VMware software and the challenges with moving off of it will contribute to organizations making this decision.

However, even organizations looking to move from VMware vSphere to an alternative hypervisor may still need a VMware vSphere backup solution.

This could stem from one or more of the following reasons:

They want to use backup software to backup vSphere VMs and restore them to an alternative hypervisor or the cloud. Many VMware vSphere backup solutions offer this capability. In recent conversations with multiple data protection providers, they each have seen an uptick in the interest for this feature. They often get asked if they support this cross-hypervisor VM backup and restore functionality and for which other hypervisors?
A mix of hypervisors. Organizations may find it difficult or impractical to move all their VMs off VMware vSphere. However, they recognize they can move some or many of their VMs to an alternative hypervisor. This decision may result in supporting multiple hypervisors in their environment, one of which is VMware vSphere. In this scenario, they will still need to protect their VMware vSphere VMs. However, they may also want to protect their other VMs with the same backup solution.
Using VMware vSphere’s advanced data protection APIs. Organizations utilizing the VMWare vSphere vStorage APIs – Data Protection or VMware vSphere APIs: Array Integration (VAAI) may want to continue down this path. This requires them to select a backup solution that will support.

These reasons, coupled with VMware vSphere holding the largest enterprise hypervisor market share, explain why VMware vSphere backup remains relevant.

DCIG initiating research into VMware vSphere Backup Solutions
Iy currently only plans to research VMware vSphere backup solutions that meet the following 3 criteria.

Each solution must:

Demonstrate documented backup support for VMware vSphere.
Be commercially available on or before October 1, 2024.
Make sufficient information available for DCIG analysts to make informed decisions about the product’s technical capabilities.

DCIG has launched its VMware vSphere Backup Solutions research
It has already launched its research into VMware vSphere Backup Solutions and anticipates completing its research by mid-October. It plans to evaluate the following solutions and request that each backup solution provider complete a survey about its product(s).