Perforce Helix vs. ClearCase

Transcription

1 WHITE PAPER vs. Clearcase: Why Switch to Today? 1 vs. Why Switch to Today? is very expensive to buy, support, and maintain. It limits users to only centralized workflows and has no Git repository management capabilities. When you consider the ongoing loss of productivity that results from s slow performance and complex tooling, is even more expensive. is a better way to build complex products faster and more securely. Offering the choice of centralized or distributed workflows, Helix meets the needs of both developers and the larger enterprise. also offers dedicated technical support and a professional services team to ensure that your migration to is as low impact as possible.

2 vs. : Why Switch to Today? 1 Contents Summary 1 Comparison Matrix 2 Performance 3 Cost of Ownership 4 Productivity 5 Centralized & Distributed Workflows 5 Git Management 6 Global Reach 6 Security 7 Investment Protection 7 Conclusion 8 Summary is a legacy SCM system that has changed hands many times, from Atria to PureAtria via Rational to finally come to rest at IBM. is very expensive to buy, support, and maintain. Even a small installation requires multiple highly skilled and well-paid administrators. When you consider the ongoing loss of productivity of users given its slow performance and complex tooling, is even more expensive. Most importantly, IBM has put on maintenance. Expect to see zero ongoing innovation and improvement in. With, you are paying a lot upfront for outdated technology that is equally cost prohibitive to use and maintain. offers a compelling solution for those looking to regain lost productivity, move to faster release cadences and ensure greater security for their intellectural property. also offers dedicated technical support and a professional services team to ensure that your migration from is as low impact as possible.

3 vs. : Why Switch to Today? 2 Comparison Matrix Capability Performance uses a proprietary file system that slows down a lot of operations. is proven to perform better in daily SCM operations. Cost of Ownership is expensive to maintain, both in licenses as well as the required specialized workforce for administration. Helix costs less and requires significantly less manpower to administrate and support. Productivity is a complex system that requires lots of training and support by administrators. Helix is fast and easy to use. It is easy to maintain with little administrative overhead. Centralized & Distributed Workflows offers only traditional centralized workflow. Helix supports classic central workflow as well as distributed workflows through its native DVCS capabilities. It is easy to sync data from Git repositories into Helix. Git Management has no Git management capabilities. Helix GitSwarm provides full Git management while automatically mirroring work into Helix Versioning Engine for enterprise visibility and security. Global Reach MultiSite is pricey and complex to set up and maintain. In practical use, it introduces a high-coordination overhead for separated teams working on the same code base. Helix offers a federated architecture that synchronizes global teams. Coordination is transparent and easy. Security provides basic levels of access control by group membership, user or role. Helix provides file-level access control by user, group or role. Helix Threat Detection applies advanced behavioral analytics to proactively uncover data theft. Investment Protection has not seen any major upgrades in years. Version 7.1 and earlier are no longer maintained. Helix is being actively developed and evolving.

4 vs. : Why Switch to Today? 3 Performance s multi-version file system (MVFS) presents the user workspace as a separate file system. It requires deep integration into the operating system and consumes a substantial amount of resources on the client machine. Operations such as retrieving many files or projects with large binaries from the central storage take considerable time.metadata to the threat detection engine. Helix is proven to perform better in daily SCM operations: 5-10 times faster when operating on a project with 20,000 source code files 5-20 times faster when operating on a project with 3.3 GB binary data 1, , Initial Import Editing 200 files Adding files Merging Figure 1: Workspace 16k files, 3 GB (all times in seconds) Slow SCM operations cut down productivity and frustrate developers, who will either lose interest or try to circumvent the SCM system. also lets developers enjoy the advantages of using local repositories within a DVCS workflow. Your developers need a version control system that lets them work the way they want to.

5 vs. : Why Switch to Today? 4 Cost of Ownership is expensive to purchase and support. It is even more expensive with respect to required hardware and the administrative overhead. It is not uncommon to have 1 administrator for 25 to 50 users, and administrators demand a high price for their specialized skills because is complex to master. Helix licensing and maintenance fees are lower than those of. A Server requires less expensive hardware than the equivalent server, and client hardware requirements are much lower. can be administered by a small group of administrators, even for thousands of users. $5,000 $4,000 $3,000 $2,000 $1,000 $0 License Costs # of Admins per 1000 users Companies are always aiming to reduce their cost base. Helix offers a powerful modern alternative to and it is cheaper to maintain. The highest cost of is lost productivity due to complexity and slow performance. A recent study from analyst firm Forrester Research* shows raises developers productivitiy by 15% compared to other SCM options. * Total Economic Impact of, Forrester Research, 2013

6 vs. : Why Switch to Today? 5 Productivity is a complex system that requires extensive training and support by administrators. Complex workflow requires UCM on top of, which is even more complex and expensive. Helix is simpler, reducing the need for extensive training. It is designed to be fast and easy to use. is easy to maintain with little administrative overhead. Streams simplify code line management without further cost or administrative overhead. Developers prefer simple yet powerful tools that allow them to concentrate on coding, not managing the repositories. Centralized & Distributed Workflows by itself offers only the traditional central workflow, which requires a permanent connection with the central server because of its network file system. Besides the traditional central workflow, provides native distributed version control system (DVCS) capabilities to allow users to work offline while still being able to use all tools and interfaces. Helix also permits dedicated Git developers to use the full capabilities of Git while under the covers pushing to the central repository, offering the best of both worlds. Distributed version control allows developers to quickly create local branches without affecting the size of the central repository. In the end, work still needs to be stored in the central repository for sharing, reviewing, and continuous integration.

7 vs. : Why Switch to Today? 6 Git Management has no facilities for managing Git repositories. Helix GitSwarm provides the option of the pure Git-based workflow many developers prefer. It also makes projects easy to manage. Administrate projects and teams, maintain visibility over all projects, track issues and keep important project information easily available in a Git-powered wiki. GitSwarm automatically mirrors your team s work to Helix Versioning Engine for enterprise-class collaboration, visibility, security and control. A collaboration platform needs to flexibly accommodate the preferences of its users, or those users will go elsewhere. Many developers today prefer to work disconnected, storing and versioning their work to a local repository before sharing it with others. Some organizations prefer the visibility across projects and greater security of a centralized system. gives you and your teams the choice of workflows either distributed or centralized to satisfy both developers and the larger enterprise. Global Reach offers MultiSite as its solution for remote offices. MultiSite must be purchased separately and requires considerable effort to administrate and maintain. If separate teams are collaborating on the same code base, then in practice there can be a significant overhead caused by replication. (One customer reported variations from 20 minutes to several hours to replicate between New York and London, causing major overhead; the uncertainty was also a huge drain.) Helix provides its easy-to-install and virtually maintenance-free Proxy solution for small remote offices and a flexible replication solution for larger offices at no extra cost. It works transparently, simply, and effectively. Many development teams are going global, with users accessing and submitting to repositories from all over the world 24 hours a day. Without proper caching or replication technology, remote teams suffer from latency and bandwidth saturation, which severely limits their productivity.

8 vs. : Why Switch to Today? 7 Security provides basic access control functionality, enabling you to set permissions by user, group or role. In addition to its complete access control capabilities, the Helix platform includes Helix Threat Detection, which proactively surfaces threats to the intellectual property stored in the Helix Versioning Engine. It applies advanced behavioral analytics to assess the risk level for each threat event, bringing sharp contrast to the most critical threats. This enables you to detect compromised accounts, malware and theft attempts immediately. Every week it seems some new company has made the headlines for having its data stolen. In fact, a recent IP Commission Report estimates the annual cost of data theft in the U.S. alone at $300B. Conventional approaches to security are not enough to prevent the theft of your most valuable intellectual property. Organizations need an effective last line of defense against data theft. Investment Protection IBM has not updated since 2011 and is encouraging customers to move to RTC without providing an upgrade path. is no longer on maintenance support. Helix maintains and continuously evolves its products to ensure that its customers benefit from the latest technologies and industry trends. Companies store their most valuable intellectural property in their SCM system and need to make sure it is maintained and evolves continuously according to industry best practices.

9 vs. : Why Switch to Today? 8 Conclusion is a legacy system that incurs large costs due to high licensing and support fees, administrative overhead, and lost productivity. Many companies have migrated from to and repaid their initial investment within a short time thanks to faster delivery of their products and lower operating costs. We invite you to try for free (for up to 20 users) at Or contact our Sales team at [email protected] for a demonstration of in action. North America Software Inc Blanding Ave Alameda, CA USA Phone: [email protected] perforce.com Europe Software UK Ltd. West Forest Gate Wellington Road Wokingham Berkshire RG40 2AT UK Phone: +44 (0) [email protected] Australia Software Pty. Ltd. Suite 3, Level Miller Street North Sydney NSW 2060 AUSTRALIA Phone: +61 (0) [email protected] Copyright 2015 Software Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks or registered trademarks used herein are property of their respective owners.