Vendor Landscape: Cloud Backup

Transcription

1 Vendor Landscape: Cloud Backup Match cloud economics with on-premise reliability. Info-Tech Research Group 1

2 Introduction The Cloud Backup Vendor Landscape is full of startups that are innovating and iterating. However, best-in-class solutions do exist. This Research Is Designed For: IT leaders and storage managers tasked with selecting an offsite, or cloud-based, backup solution. Any organization looking to reduce capital expenditure and administrative burden on backup storage, enhance disaster recovery capabilities, or simply looking to learn more about cloud backup vendors. This Research Will Help You: Define what distinguishes enterprise-class cloud backup from consumer-grade solutions. Make sense of how cloud backup vendors differentiate themselves from competitors. Shortlist cloud backup vendors based on which best align with your business requirements. Info-Tech Research Group 2

3 Executive Summary The enterprise cloud backup market is still very nascent, with the oldest participating player being founded in 2005, and most being founded after There are several basic features that define an enterprise-class cloud backup solution though, and the future for the cloud backup space looks bright. Among the products evaluated, CTERA, TwinStrata, and Nasuni took top honors and were named Champions. The solutions evaluated provide terrific value for what s offered, with appropriate solutions available for small, medium, and large businesses alike between the three vendors. However, there are scenarios where solutions from other vendors are more appropriate, so defining business requirements, and aligning that with the use cases presented is still an important step in the nascent, but burgeoning, market. Info-Tech Research Group 3

4 Defining enterprise cloud backup: less reliance on the Internet, which improves the end user experience Though cloud backup vendors Info-Tech spoke to mentioned competing against Mozy Pro and idrive, these are not business-ready options. In a recent survey, conducted by Info-Tech Research Group, respondents indicated they had almost two times more Complete confidence in backup solutions that replicated to the cloud vs. those that backup directly to the cloud. The same respondents expressed more overall confidence in cloud replication solutions than disk-to-disk arrays. 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Cloud Direct Tape Library D2D VTL Cloud Replication D2D Array Complete High Moderate An enterprise-class cloud backup solution must include an on-premise cache of recently and frequently accessed files to mitigate any issues due to inconsistent Internet connectivity. Info-Tech Research Group 4

5 Market Overview How it got here Evolved from traditional online backup - where you paid for an allotment of storage capacity and backed up servers directly to the Web to on-site appliances that compress, deduplicate, and cache data before replicating to the cloud. Enterprise cloud backup solutions are defined by the ability to keep an on-site cache of frequently and recently accessed data, while completing incremental backups or snapshots to the cloud. Currently a wide open space where few vendors have more than a few dozen clients, but those clients generate sizeable revenue. Where it s going Commoditization of core cloud backup features is causing new service providers to differentiate themselves by specializing in niche markets. You ll be able to access files from anywhere, on any device, making enterprise-class cloud backup as easy to use as consumer-grade services. A simplification of backup architectures as cloud storage, both internal and external, matures. The use of tape for archiving will continue to decline as enterprises re-assess and refresh their backup strategies. Cross-cloud mirroring will become an industry standard feature within the next two years, lending additional reliability and redundancy. Overall, disk-to-disk backup is the most popular backup target, with 62% of survey respondents saying they had recently implemented new backup capacity. However, the number of businesses deploying cloud backup was 15%; equal to the number of companies deploying tape. Info-Tech Research Group 5

6 Cloud Backup Criteria & Weighting Factors Product Evaluation Features Affordability Usability Architecture The solution provides basic and advanced feature/functionality. The five year TCO of the solution is economical. The solution s dashboard and reporting tools are intuitive and easy to use. The delivery method of the solution aligns with what is expected within the space. Vendor Evaluation Viability Strategy Reach Channel Vendor is profitable, knowledgeable, and will be around for the long-term. Vendor is committed to the space and has a future product and portfolio roadmap. Vendor offers global coverage and is able to sell and provide post-sales support. Vendor channel strategy is appropriate and the channels themselves are strong. Info-Tech Research Group 6

7 The Info-Tech Cloud Backup Vendor Landscape Champions receive high scores for most evaluation criteria and offer excellent value. They have a strong market presence and are usually the trend setters for the industry. CTERA Emerging Players are newer vendors who are starting to gain a foothold in the marketplace. They balance product and vendor attributes, though score lower relative to market Champions. StorSimple Nasuni TwinStrata Innovators have demonstrated innovative product strengths that act as their competitive advantage in appealing to niche segments of the market. Market Pillars are established players with very strong vendor credentials, but with more average product scores. Panzura Zmanda For a complete description of Info-Tech s Vendor Landscape methodology, see the Appendix. CoreVault Info-Tech Research Group 7

8 Every vendor has its strengths & weaknesses; pick the cloud backup vendor that best suits your needs Product Vendor Overall Features Usability Price Platform Overall Viability Strategy Reach Channel CoreVault CTERA Nasuni Panzura StorSimple TwinStrata Zmanda For an explanation of how Info-Tech Harvey Balls are calculated, please see the appendix. Info-Tech Research Group 8

9 CTERA, Nasuni, and TwinStrata offer the best value What is a Value Score? The Value Score indexes each vendor s product offering and business strength relative to their price point. It does not indicate vendor ranking. Vendors that score high offer more bang for the buck (e.g. features, usability, stability, etc.) than the average vendor, while the inverse is true for those that score lower. Champion On a relative basis, CTERA maintained the highest Info-Tech Value Score of the vendor group. Vendors were indexed against CTERA s performance to provide a complete, relative view of their product offerings. Average Score: 71.6 Price-conscious enterprises may wish to give the Value Score more consideration than those who are more focused on specific vendor/product attributes The cost estimates were generated using a real-life scenario provided to Info-Tech Research Group by a client. For more information, see slide CTERA TwinStrata Nasuni Zmanda StorSimple Panzura CoreVault Sources: 1. To calculate the Value Score for each vendor, the affordability raw score was backed out, the product scoring reweighted, and the affordability score multiplied by the product of the Vendor and Product scores. Info-Tech Research Group 9

10 Every vendor in Cloud Backup meets the Basic Features, but who goes above and beyond in the areas that matter to you? The Basic Features What Does This Mean? 256-Bit Encryption Incremental Backups Standard Access Methods File Versioning SAS 70 Type II Certification Scheduled Synchronization Local Cache Data is encrypted while being transmitted to, and at rest in, the data center. Only changed files or blocks are transmitted after the first backup. Non-proprietary access methods like REST APIs, WebDAV, and FTP must be available. The service stores (and can automatically delete) previous versions of files. The data center storing your data has successfully passed a SAS 70 Type II audit. Backup frequency can be scheduled along with a set start and end time. Storing frequently and recently accessed files on-premise to reduce bandwidth usage. The products assessed in this Vendor Landscape TM meet, at the very least, the requirements outlined as Basic Features. All of the vendors go above and beyond the outlined Basic Features, most even do so in multiple categories. This section aims to highlight the products capabilities in excess of the criteria listed here. If Basic Features are all you need from your Cloud Backup solution, the only true differentiator for the organization is price. Otherwise, dig deeper to find the best price to value for your needs like cloud server mountable volumes, Web-based file sharing, Info-Tech Research Group 10

11 Basic Features aside, vendors were evaluated on their individual advanced feature offering Advanced features scoring methodology: Info-Tech scored each vendor s features offering a summation of their individual scores across the listed advanced features. Vendors were given one point for each feature the product inherently provided. Some categories were scored on a more granular scale with vendors receiving half points (see Partial functionality criteria). Features Cross-Cloud Mirroring Bare Metal Restore File Sharing Deduplication Data Compression Cloud Server Mountable Volumes Restore From Anywhere Access From Anywhere Native File System Agentless Architecture Service Level Agreement Bandwidth Throttling What We Looked For Mirroring across geographically disparate data centers or multiple cloud storage providers. Restoring servers without an underlying OS and applications installed. Web-based file sharing via a hyperlink. Recognizing duplicated files and storing just one copy. Compressing the data before backup to reduce bandwidth utilization. Cloud storage volumes can be mounted by cloud servers for quick DR capability. Ability to initiate restores from remote locations via a graphical user interface. Ability to access files from remote locations via a graphical user interface. Backing up and storing files in their native file system, without proprietary protocols. Backing up devices without software agents on each device. A contract with service availability guarantees. Controlling upload and download speeds to manage bandwidth usage. Info-Tech Research Group 11

12 TwinStrata Champion Product: Employees: Headquarters: Website: Founded: Presence: CloudArray 25 Natick, MA twinstrata.com 2007 Estimated Run Rate: $1M Overview TwinStrata has completed three rounds of funding, most recently completing a debt round in February Venture capitalist sits on the board of directors, lending credence to the startup. Strengths Cloud storage volumes can be attached to cloud server instances for additional disaster recovery capabilities. Physical and virtual appliances supported; virtual appliances run on ESXi, XenServer, Hyper-V, and Amazon EC2. Can back up to public and private storage clouds. Can be provisioned as a storage tier for internal applications. Challenges Additional fee for 24x7 support. Not capable of cross-cloud mirroring, bare metal restore, or file sharing. Priced between $10,000 and $25,000 Info-Tech Recommends: Mid-sized and large businesses that need to replace their NAS/SAN, especially those with highly virtualized environments, should consider TwinStrata. Info-Tech Research Group 12

13 TwinStrata has produced a compelling alternative to traditional storage that can replace your NAS or SAN TwinStrata is attempting to provide a flexible solution that helps move the mid-market off traditional storage, and doing it well. TwinStrata offers a virtual appliance, or one of four individual physical appliances for provisioning a local cache. The virtual appliance uses storage allotted to it from a NAS or SAN, and the physical appliances support unlimited storage, with an artificial maximum of 50PB. TwinStrata supports backing up to both public and private cloud storage, with support for seven different cloud storage providers. The appliances are capable of block-level, file-level, and application-specific storage methods. TwinStrata s products can be controlled through a Web-based interface, API, or command level interface. Local and cloud storage volumes are provisioned from the same applications, making the appliance easier to administer. TwinStrata does not perform all of the billing, leaving customers to deal with separate invoices from each of the cloud storage providers used. Ideal Profile: Mid-size and large enterprises that have outgrown their existing NAS or SAN, or have recently re-assessed their backup architecture and settled on cloud backup. Also organizations that wish to store their data outside of the United States, thanks to support for PEER 1 s cloud storage service. Info-Tech Research Group 13

14 CTERA Champion Product: Employees: Headquarters: Website: Founded: Presence: Cloud Gateway and Portal 20 Petach Tikva, Israel ctera.com Distributors Overview CTERA was founded by Liran Eshel and Zohar Kaufman, who previously started SofaWare Technologies. It has completed Series A and Series B funding rounds, both funded Benchmark Capital. Strengths Built-in deduplication, compression, and bandwidth optimization. Portal can backup to your own private cloud or public clouds. Files can be accessed remotely, in native file format, and restored to different machines in case of disaster. Files can be shared with others via a hyperlink. Challenges Priced between $10,000 and $25,000 A C200 or C400 Cloud Gateway is required; there is no virtual appliance available. Cannot currently operate at the hypervisor level. Lack of direct sales can deter small and mid-sized businesses, pushing them to competitors. Info-Tech Recommends: With a reasonable price point, consumer-type sharing features and trusted cloud providers, CTERA is easy to recommend for small and mid-sized businesses, and branch offices. Info-Tech Research Group 14

15 CTERA s solution is the most comprehensive in the marketplace, and worth a look from any SME CTERA is leading on advanced cloud backup features and has laid out a strong roadmap ahead. CTERA offers multiple pieces of hardware for setting up a local cache: CloudPlug, C200 and C400. The C200 and C400 are self-contained devices, and the C400 supports up to 12TB of raw storage capacity. CTERA Portal provides administration and configuration of the local appliance, and snapshots to cloud storage providers. The Web-based interface is easy to use, providing insight into storage capacity use by individual devices. CTERA C200 or C400 Appliance CTERA does not have its own data centers, instead backing up your data to the cloud storage provider of your choice. You receive one bill from the backup service provider, not from each cloud storage provider in use. Ideal Profile: Small and mid-sized businesses that have outgrown their existing NAS or SAN, have recently re-assessed their backup architecture, and settled on cloud backup, or do not currently own a NAS/SAN. Info-Tech Research Group 15

16 Nasuni Champion Product: Employees: Headquarters: Website: Founded: Presence: Filer < 50 Natick, MA nasuni.com Customers Listed on Website Raised $23M in VC Funding Overview Nasuni s founders have their history as CTOs and with traditional storage vendors. Nasuni has raised $23M in funding from venture capital firms like Flybridge, North Bridge, and Sigma Partners. Strengths Variety of top-tier cloud providers to choose from. Full Active Directory integration. Built-in WAN optimization to compress before transport. Automatic software upgrades without IT intervention. One of the least expensive solutions. Challenges Priced between $10,000 and $25,000 Performance in large enterprise environments is less than stellar. Can initiate a restore from anywhere in the world, but cannot access files via the Web interface remotely. Virtual appliance can only scale up to 2TB on VMware. Not suitable for backing up virtual machines or databases. Info-Tech Recommends: Nasuni positions itself as a replacement for file servers, and should only be used this way. A strong focus on unstructured data, native file formats, and low pricing makes it very suitable for this role. Info-Tech Research Group 16

17 Nasuni has clear focus of where its solution fits in the cloud backup market, and makes no bones about it If you re looking to expand or replace file servers, Nasuni is worth a look even at a departmental level. Nasuni provides a virtual appliance pre-configured to provide 128GB of on-premise cache, and can be scaled to provide up to 2TB on VMware and 16TB on Xen. If the cache is full, the Filer begins removing files from the cache. These files are moved to your cloud storage provider until they re accessed again. Nasuni currently supports six different public cloud storage providers. The Filer encrypts all files while on-premise, in-transport, and after hitting the cloud. Nasuni s interface is available through a Web browser, where local and cloud storage volumes are provisioned. The interface has been given a design that s easy to use, with an emphasis on quick, at-a-glance statistics through a colorful dashboard. Nasuni performs all the billing, so you have only one invoice to pay. Nasuni Filer Ideal Profile: Businesses that are not interested in using cloud backup for snapshots of virtual machines, or block-level storage. Nasuni Filer is ideal for small and mid-sized businesses replacing their NAS, or purchasing a NAS, for storing unstructured data only, and providing access to those files from remote locations. Info-Tech Research Group 17

18 StorSimple Innovator Product: Employees: Headquarters: Website: Founded: Presence: Hybrid Cloud Storage 45 Santa Clara, CA storsimple.com 2009 $21M VC Funding Overview StorSimple has raised funding from notable venture capitalist firms like Redpoint Ventures and Index Ventures. StorSimple s founders, Ursheet Parikh and Guru Pangal, come from backgrounds in WAN optimization and storage. Strengths Can use multiple cloud storage providers concurrently, and synchronize volumes across storage clouds. Automatic tiering across solid state disks, server attached storage, and cloud storage. Certified for Windows Server 2008 R2 and VMware Ready. Volumes optimized based on type of data stored. Challenges One of the more expensive solutions available. Bare metal restore only available for VMware images, file sharing, restore anywhere and access anywhere. Priced between $25,000 and $50,000 Info-Tech Recommends: StorSimple is mostly targeted at mid-sized and large enterprises, and any company with large content (i.e. CAD drawings). It s well suited to the task and hits most of the advanced features desired. Info-Tech Research Group 18

19 StorSimple is currently the only vendor that supports crosscloud mirroring, setting the trend Cross-cloud mirroring will become an industry standard, but StorSimple has more enterprise-level features in store. StorSimple provides a choice of several physical appliances, with capacities ranging from 10TB to 200TB. Recently and frequently accessed files are cached on-premise, on one of two storage tiers. Older and infrequently accessed files are archived to cloud storage. StorSimple currently supports four different public cloud storage providers, as well as private cloud storage. All data is encrypted while on-premise, in-transport, and after hitting the cloud. Customers have full control over the private key. Administration of StorSimple s appliances can be performed via a webbased interface or through storage management consoles on a desktop OS. StorSimple does not perform all of the billing, leaving customers to handle invoices with each cloud storage service used. StorSimple 1010, 5010 or 7010 Appliance Ideal Profile: Mid-sized and large organizations with Windows and VMware environments, feel more comfortable synchronizing backups across multiple cloud storage providers, and aren t concerned about providing access from remote locations (outside of an office or VPN). Info-Tech Research Group 19

20 Zmanda Market Pillar Product: Employees: Headquarters: Website: Founded: Presence: Amanda Enterprise 50 Sunnyvale, CA zmanda.com ,000+ Customers Overview Zmanda s solutions are based on the source code from the Amanda open source project. It was founded in 2006 and has completed three rounds of funding, raising $16M. Strengths Specialized software agents for Windows servers, Linux servers, MySQL, Oracle, vsphere/esxi, etc. Files are stored in their native formats on Amazon S3. Challenges Priced between $25,000 and $50,000 Each software agent must be purchased separately, driving up capital expenditure and operating expenses for yearly subscriptions. Can only backup to Amazon S3 currently. 24x7 support is only available with a Premium subscription. Info-Tech Recommends: Small and mid-sized businesses with heterogeneous environments, and content with using Amazon as the cloud storage provider, should look at Zmanda s Amanda Enterprise solution. Info-Tech Research Group 20

21 Zmanda is one of the top solutions for heterogeneous environments thanks to heavy agent specialization That specialization comes at a price though, with each agent having a yearly subscription fee attached to it. Zmanda provides a virtual appliance that s capable of live backups of various applications like Exchange, SharePoint, and MySQL. Unfortunately, each of these applications requires an agent installed, all of which are purchased independently at roughly $300 per year, per agent. Zmanda only supports backing up to Amazon currently. Info-Tech believes support for other cloud storage providers is coming soon. Amanda Enterprise Administration of Zmanda can be done from a desktop client or Webbased interface. The desktop client looks like a mix of antiquated, cluttered prompts paired with modern graphics. The templates provided for scheduling are not very user friendly. Zmanda performs all the billing, so you only have one bill to pay. Ideal Profile: Small, mid-sized, and large businesses with heterogeneous environments (Linux, Windows, Oracle, etc.), do not require deduplication, and are set on using Amazon as their cloud storage provider. Info-Tech Research Group 21

22 Panzura Emerging Player Product: Employees: Headquarters: Website: Founded: Presence: Alto Cloud Controller 26 San Jose, CA panzura.com 2008 Raised $18M From VCs Overview Panzura targets large, distributed enterprises with storage appliances that synchronize designated data with each other, and also to cloud storage providers. The number of employees has grown by 140% in the last year. Strengths Ideal for distributed organizations with a need for collaborating on files, or making data available across locations. Supports public and private cloud storage, and backing up to tape. Available as a physical or virtual appliance. Challenges Priced between $50,000 and $100,000 Not designed for small and mid-sized businesses. Panzura is clear that its market is Fortune 1000, globally distributed companies. Difficult to identify existing customers or channel partners. Product has only been in the market since June Info-Tech Recommends: Large, distributed organizations should look at Panzura to solve cross-site data synchronization problems, while enabling cloud backup. Not a solution to be considered by single-site businesses. Info-Tech Research Group 22

23 Panzura has a very clear market of large enterprises that need to help foster collaboration mixed with cloud backup Panzura s target market will likely see its solution as very compelling, especially those with many changes to data on Alto Cloud Controllers. Panzura s solution is available as either a physical or virtual appliance. Because of the nature of the solution and its target audience, it includes a feature Panzura calls Collision Control, which locks a file for editing if another user has it open. Panzura currently supports four different cloud storage providers, and is clear about its focus: enabling LAN-speed file access despite the distance between offices. Panzura Alto Cloud Controller (Physical or Virtual) Panzura s administration interface contains a colorful mix of graphs on various data points, such as data throughput, system disk status, and a bandwidth summary. It also provides a quick view on how much storage is used and available, and how much has been saved thanks to deduplication. Ideal Profile: Large, globally dispersed organizations that are looking to create a private storage delivery network that backs up to a public or private storage cloud. Small businesses will likely find the appliances too expensive, though some mid-sized companies may find Panzura meets their needs. Info-Tech Research Group 23

24 CoreVault Emerging Player Product: Employees: Headquarters: Website: Founded: Presence: Cloud Backup Online 17 Oklahoma City, OK corevault.com 2005 Endorsements from bar and medical associations in 15 states Overview CoreVault is an offshoot of a telecom provider that was looking to solve its own backup issues. Its agentless solution discovers targets on the network to be backed up, backs up to disk, then replicates to the cloud. Strengths Built-in deduplication and continuous data protection capabilities. Software agent is FIPS certified (PDF link). Capable of storing unlimited retentions and bare metal restorations. Snapshots can be restored to CoreVault s vcloud service as cloud servers. Challenges Priced between $50,000 and $100,000 Two data centers, but both located in Oklahoma. Multiple storage tiers that lead to differing restoration times and service costs. No service level agreement; only available to some clients. Antiquated and cluttered user interface. Info-Tech Recommends: At such a high cost, only companies that require high security, like FIPS software and ISO certifications, should consider CoreVault s solution. Info-Tech Research Group 24

25 CoreVault s solution is expensive for a reason it s highly secure, and built for organizations that need that security CoreVault is a traditional online backup provider that has restructured as a cloud backup provider, and includes a managed service approach. CoreVault provides software that is installed on a designated server, which backs up designated data and then replicates it to CoreVault s cloud storage service. CoreVault is very focused on highly regulated industries - like financial, healthcare and legal - thanks to the FIPS certified software agent. It mostly targets organizations in the fifteen states where it receives endorsements from professional associations. CoreVault Software Agent CoreVault s administration software is cluttered and looks antiquated, with wizards for creating backup sets and retention rules that could use a user experience overhaul.. CoreVault performs all the billing, so you only have one bill to pay. This is offset by having to use CoreVault s own cloud storage service, which is the most expensive service reviewed in the Vendor Landscape. Ideal Profile: Small and mid-sized companies that require strict security certifications, like FIPS and ISO 27001, both of which CoreVault has obtained, and clearly differentiates it from competitors. Info-Tech Research Group 25

26 Focusing on use cases causes different Champions to rise to the top of the Cloud Backup Vendor Landscape Different use cases bring different vendors and solutions as the best fit to the table. Don t ignore your needs when looking at the budget. 1 Use Case Mount Storage to Cloud IaaS Servers 2 Private Cloud Support Unstructured Data/NAS Replacement 3 Global, Distributed Enterprises *Separate product, not evaluated Info-Tech Research Group 26

27 If you prefer to keep backups in a private storage cloud, only a few solutions fit your requirements Organizations with strict compliance requirements, but that want to take advantage of cloud economics, still have a choice. 1 Use Case Private Cloud 2 Private Cloud Support 3 Info-Tech Research Group 27

28 There are many other solutions available, but those from Zetta and Gluster did not meet the Basic Features criteria Zetta s direct-to-cloud approach does not provide the level of availability and redundancy required, and Gluster substitutes the filesystem entirely. Zetta provides a software agent-based solution that backs up directly to its own data centers. Files are stored in native file format, fees charged are exclusively based on storage usage, and you can maintain up to a seven year version history. Zetta even provides one critical advanced feature identified, cross-data center mirroring between their east coast and west coast data centers. All this at very aggressive pricing. Ultimately, Zetta was excluded due to the lack of an on-premise cache. Companies cannot rely on the Internet to provide access to multi-gigabyte files within a reasonable amount of time. Gluster s virtual appliance is targeted as a replacement for your existing NAS, and not as a cloud backup solution. You can install Gluster as a bare-metal storage software appliance, and on Amazon EC2 with EBS storage, and set this configuration up for georeplication across the Internet. It works as a do-it-yourself cloud backup solution for organizations that would prefer. provides a software agent-based solution that backs up directly to its own data centers. Due to Gluster s focus as a NAS replacement, it was excluded from the Vendor Landscape. It s a very innovative solution though and appears to have a bright future in the storage market. Info-Tech Research Group 28

29 Appendix Info-Tech Research Group 29

30 Cloud Backup Total Cost of Ownership Scenario How we calculated the cost An Info-Tech client provided a scenario for comparing the cost of cloud backup solutions in order to determine the value provided. The scenario presented included an existing SAN, being used primarily as a file server, which requires costly upgrades to increase the capacity. The current usage is 1TB out of the 1.3.TB capacity. Storage growth is projected to be 10% year over year, which was also factored into the five year cost calculation. Info-Tech Research Group used the Cloud Storage TCO Calculator to account for all possible costs including hardware, software licensing, data transfer and storage usage. Example graph from Cloud Storage TCO Calculator Cloud backup solutions vary widely in cost Source: Info-Tech Research Group Info-Tech Research Group 30

31 Methodology Vendor Landscape & Harvey Balls Info-Tech Research Group s Vendor Landscape market evaluations are a part of a larger product selection solution set, referred to as a Select Set. From the domain experience of our analysts, a vendor/product shortlist is established. Product briefings are requested from each of these vendors, asking for information on the company, products, technology, customers, partners, sales models and pricing. Our analysts then score each vendor and product across a variety of categories. These scores are then weighted according to weighting factors that our analysts believe represent the weight that an average client should apply to each criteria. The weighted scores are then averaged for each of two high level categories: vendor score and product score. A plot of these two resulting scores is generated to place vendors in one of four categories: Champion, Innovator, Market Pillar, and Emerging Player. Analysts take the individual scores for each vendor/product in each evaluation category and convert those to a scale of zero to four whereby exceptional performance receives a score of four and poor performance receives a score of zero. These scores are represented with Harvey Balls, ranging from an open circle for a score of zero to a filled in circle for a score of four. Harvey Ball scores are indicative of absolute performance but are not an exact correlation. Individual scorecards are then sent to the vendors for factual review, and to ensure no information is under embargo. We will make corrections where factual errors exist (e.g. pricing, features, technical specifications). We will consider suggestions concerning benefits, functional quality, value, etc; however, these suggestions must be validated by feedback from our customers. We do not accept changes that are not corroborated by actual client experience or wording changes that are purely part of a vendor s market messaging or positioning. Any resulting changes to final scores are then made as needed, before publishing the results to Info-Tech clients. Vendor Landscapes are refreshed every 12 to 24 months, depending upon the dynamics of each individual market. Info-Tech Research Group 31

32 Methodology Value Index Info-Tech Research Group s Vendor Landscape market evaluations are a part of a larger product selection solution set, referred to as a Select Set. The Value Index is an indexed ranking of value per dollar as determined by the raw scores given to each vendor by analysts. To perform the calculation, Affordability is removed from the Product score and the entire Product category is reweighted to represent the same proportions. The Product and Vendor scores are then summed, and multiplied by the Affordability raw score to come up with Value Score. Vendors are then indexed to the highest vendor by dividing their score into that of the highest scorer, resulting in an indexed ranking with a top score of 100. The Value Index calculation is then repeated on the raw score of each category against Affordability, creating a series of indexes for Features, Usability, Viability, Strategy and Support, with each being indexed against the highest score in that category. The results for each vendor are displayed in tandem with the average score in each category to provide an idea of over and under performance. The Value Index, where applicable, is refreshed every 12 to 24 months, depending upon the dynamics of each individual market. Info-Tech Research Group 32