Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup and Recovery Software Solutions
Gartner defines enterprise backup and recovery software solutions as vendor-developed solutions that capture a point-in-time copy (backup) of enterprise workloads in on-premises, hybrid, multicloud and SaaS environments. These solutions write the data to a secondary storage target for the purpose of recovering this data in case of loss. They can be offered as software-only, hardware or virtualized appliance, or as a SaaS-based, backup as a service (BaaS). Solutions must offer effective capabilities to simplify management of data protection across complex enterprise environments. They must also ensure reliable recovery by protecting backup data against a constantly changing threat landscape, and expedite and orchestrate data recovery responses to traditional disaster and ransomware events.
No strategic planning assumptions provided.
Vendors must, among other requirements:
A: This research evaluates 15 enterprise backup and recovery software vendors based on their ability to execute and completeness of vision. The report covers vendors offering solutions for protecting enterprise workloads in on-premises data centers, hybrid environments, multicloud (AWS, Azure, GCP), and SaaS applications. It analyzes product capabilities, market presence, innovation, ransomware protection features, BaaS offerings, pricing models, and strategic direction. The evaluation focuses on solutions targeting upper-midmarket and large enterprise organizations with complex, distributed IT environments.
A: This research should be used by Infrastructure and Operations (I&O) leaders responsible for backup and recovery operations who need to assess and select backup solutions for hybrid and multicloud environments. It helps organizations evaluate vendors based on their ability to protect distributed workloads, provide ransomware resilience, offer centralized management, support multicloud architectures, and deliver BaaS capabilities. The research is particularly valuable for organizations expanding cloud adoption, addressing ransomware threats, or modernizing their backup infrastructure to support complex enterprise requirements.
A: Mandatory features include: backup and recovery of on-premises data center infrastructure (OS, files, databases, VMs, applications); backup and recovery of public cloud infrastructure including multicloud/hybrid architectures and IaaS/PaaS/SaaS environments; ability to create multiple point-in-time backup copies for resiliency and disaster recovery; assignment of multiple backup and retention policies aligned with recovery objectives; and reporting of backup/recovery task success and failures.
A: Vendors may be excluded for: using primarily third-party ISV software; offering only backup storage targets without management functions; backing up only to cloud without local copies; deriving >75% revenue from hosters/MSPs; focusing primarily on endpoints, SaaS-only, remote offices, or SMB markets; supporting only homogeneous environments or specific storage vendors; offering only replication/DR, snapshot management, CDM, or CDP solutions; or not meeting minimum revenue, geographic presence, customer base, or tenure requirements.
A: Ability to Execute measures current performance and capabilities including product quality, market presence, financial viability, sales effectiveness, and customer satisfaction. It evaluates what vendors are delivering today. Completeness of Vision assesses forward-thinking strategy and innovation, including market understanding, product roadmap, business model soundness, and ability to anticipate and shape future market requirements. It evaluates vendors' strategic positioning for tomorrow's needs.