What is Dell PowerProtect?

TL;DR

• Cyber resilience is now a top priority for IT leaders, requiring best-in-class tools to protect their enterprises
• Dell PowerProtect is more than just a backup and recovery solution, it's a comprehensive platform
• Thousands of enterprises globally rely on Dell PowerProtect products to keep their data safe and secure

Research from Dell Technologies shows that IT leaders across an array of industries now contend with challenges posed by “resilience debt”.

Resilience debt refers to the gap between an organization’s perception of cyber resilience and its actual real-world capabilities.

This gap comes at a crucial time for enterprises globally, running parallel to rising cybersecurity threats, increased AI adoption, and growing data workloads. That means data backup and recovery services – the backbone of any robust cyber resilience strategy – are more important than ever.

Given that Gartner research shows security leaders now approach ransomware and security threats with a “when, not if” mentality, choosing a platform to bolster cyber resilience capabilities is vital.

This is where solutions such as Dell PowerProtect can make the difference between disaster and swift recovery in the event of a cyber incident.

What is Dell PowerProtect?

Dell PowerProtect offers enterprises a portfolio of data protection, backup, and recovery capabilities for use across edge, on-premises, and multi-cloud environments.

The service is aligned with NIST cyber resilience best practice principles, and is trusted by organizations to protect over 45 exabytes of data in the cloud.

PowerProtect is designed with simplicity in mind, offering organizations easy configuration that enables them to maintain robust security practices. This includes 24/7 data detection and response capabilities, as well as accelerated ransomware recovery features.

Similarly, features such as immutable storage, machine learning-based detection tools, and air-gapped vaults make Dell PowerProtect a powerful defense against evolving security threats.

Scalability and efficiency are also key focal points for Dell PowerProtect. The service uses deduplication technology, for example, helping to reduce both redundant data and alleviating strain on infrastructure.

On-demand scalability features also mean enterprises can expand based on evolving demands, which is vital as the number of AI-related workloads increases. Given the service is used by enterprises operating multi-cloud strategies, integration with alternative providers is also vital.

PowerProtect integrates seamlessly with other Dell product lines such as PowerStore and PowerScale, as well as VMware, Oracle, and SAP. SaaS application workloads for services such as Google Workspace, Salesforce, and Microsoft 365 can also be hosted on Dell PowerProtect.

So how does Dell PowerProtect work, and what features are available for users?

What does Dell PowerProtect offer?

The Dell PowerProtect portfolio spans four distinct products:

• PowerProtect Data Domain
• PowerProtect Data Manager
• PowerProtect Cyber Recovery
• PowerProtect Backup Services

Each of these products works together to offer organizations a comprehensive cyber resilience foundation.

PowerProtect Data Domain

PowerProtect Data Domain is a purpose-built backup appliance that provides a secure, efficient storage foundation for cyber resilience. It supports both traditional and modern workloads while delivering high-performance recovery and data reduction capabilities that are not achievable with alternative offerings.

Data Domain delivers data reduction (typically 75:1) helping organizations control storage growth and infrastructure costs. It leads the industry as one of the most secure platforms for cyber resilience, featuring a secure supply chain, hardware security with a chain of trust.

It also has tamperproof data immutability to support a zero-trust architecture. Ideal for recovering from hardware failures or ransomware attacks, they simplify operations and reduce risks for organizations of all sizes.

Energy efficiency is also a key appeal for cost and sustainability-conscious customers. By using all-flash systems, PowerProtect Data Domain helps to deliver 80% lower power consumption rates compared to competing industry options.

PowerProtect Data Manager

PowerProtect Data Manager is the software-defined backbone of the service, giving users a range of tools to streamline and secure workloads while gleaning valuable insights into data stored through the service.

Workloads from a range of environments can be managed through Data Manager from traditional workloads such as VMware, NAS, and databases to Kubernetes, cloud-native, and AI workloads.

On-premises and public cloud workloads from AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud can also be managed and secured through PowerProtect Data manager.

Notable features for this solution include:

• Automated anomaly detection
• Recovery orchestration tools to speed up disaster recovery
• Transparent snapshots for virtual machine backups

Automated anomaly detection gives enterprise IT and security teams insights into unusual file activities following backups, flagging potential security risks. Using machine learning, this automates metadata reviews and identifies suspicious behavioural patterns and system configurations.

The transparent snapshots feature, meanwhile, offers users up to five-times faster backups, and six-times faster restore speeds.

PowerProtect Cyber Recovery

The PowerProtect Cyber Recovery service offers enterprises isolated cyber recovery vaults to ensure data is stored and protected securely in the event of a potential security incident.

This is a vital component within the broader PowerProtect portfolio, helping to accelerate recovery in the wake of a breach.

This solution works by creating an air gapped environment which automatically migrates critical backup data to an isolated vault, keeping it away from potential routes of attack. Immutable copies of backup data are also created to prevent tampering.

PowerProtect Cyber Recovery uses CyberSense, an AI-powered analytics tool which scans data to identify potential corruption and can successfully detect corruption with 99.99% accuracy.

The capabilities offered through the Cyber Recovery service also support compliance with a range of regulatory standards set out by the SEC and CISA in the US, as well as GDPR in the EU.

PowerProtect Backup Services

Dell also offers an as-a-service backup offering, PowerProtect Backup Services, which provides a robust and secure Cyber Resilience-as-a-Service solution with long-term data retention and automated compliance features.

Customers can manage SaaS applications, endpoints, cloud-native and enterprise hybrid workloads consistently and efficiently through a unified console. With its unlimited on-demand scalability, PowerProtect Backup Services guarantees flexibility, efficiency, and control.

Simplicity and ease-of-use are key focus areas, allowing enterprises to manage backups through a single console while offering rapid deployment times.

Key features include:

• Multi-cloud and cross-cloud resilience
• Accelerated ransomware recovery
• Source-side deduplication and Immutable, Isolated backups

Being an as-a-service solution, it also offers on-demand scalability and predictable pricing based on evolving business needs.

Why should your business choose Dell PowerProtect?

Dell Technologies is a highly trusted provider in the backup and data protection domains, and the numbers speak for themselves: more than 15,000 customers use PowerProtect Data Domain and Cyber Recovery has more than 2,600 vault users.

Cyber recovery guarantees are also a key differentiator for enterprises considering PowerProtect. Dell offers cyber recovery guarantees that can provide up to $10 million in assistance to support recovery efforts after a qualifying ransomware or cyber incident.

If you think PowerProtect is the right storage solution for your business, find out more on the Dell website: US readers click here and CA readers here.