The Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) 2021 Global Data Protection Index (GDPI) findings reveal organizations are facing several data protection challenges driven by the constant threat of ransomware and the consumption of emerging technologies such as cloud-native applications, Kubernetes containers and artificial intelligence.

According to a recent IDC survey, more than one-third of organizations worldwide have experienced a ransomware attack or breach that blocked access to systems or data in the previous 12 monthsⁱ. To help address these rising – and seemingly inevitable – issues, Dell Technologies is introducing new software and services to accelerate virtual machine (VM) backup data availability, simplify management of large data sets, and maintain business continuity while alleviating dependencies on day-to-day cyber recovery operations.

“While ransomware attacks can be devastating for people and businesses, accepting defeat as a foregone conclusion is not the answer,” said Jeff Boudreau, president and general manager, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Dell Technologies. “We understand the stakes have never been higher, and the task of protecting data has never been more complex. As the leading provider of data protection hardware and software, our portfolio addresses this growing challenge by helping customers adopt a holistic cybersecurity and data protection strategy to identify, protect, detect, respond and recover from ransomware and other cyberattacks.”

New GDPI findings reveal increased state of complexity around data protection

The 2021 Dell Technologies GDPI survey of 1,000 global IT decision makers shows organizations are combatting continued data growth and increased data protection complexities. The study found that organizations are managing more than 10 times the amount of data than they did five years ago – from 1.45 petabytes in 2016 to 14.6 petabytes in 2021. Additionally, 82% of respondents are concerned their organization’s existing data protection solutions won’t be able to meet all future business challenges. These concerns are well-founded, with more than 30% reporting data loss in the last year and nearly half (45%) experiencing unplanned system downtime.

GDPI findings include:

• Sixty-two percent are concerned their existing data protection measures may not be sufficient to cope with malware and ransomware threats, while 74% agree they have increased exposure to data loss from cyber threats with the growth of employees working from home. 
• Over two-thirds (67%) lack confidence that all their business-critical data can be recovered in the event of a destructive cyberattack or data loss. 
• Sixty-three percent believe emerging technologies—such as cloud-native applications, Kubernetes containers, artificial intelligence and machine learning pose a risk to data protection, and the lack of data protection solutions for newer technologies was one of the top three data protection challenges for organizations.
• On average, the cost of data loss in the last 12 months is approaching four times higher for organizations using multiple data protection vendors as compared to those using a single-vendor approach.

Delivering comprehensive data protection and trusted cyber resiliency

Dell Technologies is addressing the ever-evolving IT landscape with solutions that help organizations protect traditional and modern workloads with a singular approach. A leader in multi-cloud data protection, Dell protects about seven exabytes of data across all major public cloud providers.ⁱⁱ Through constant innovation, agile engineering and tight integration with VMware and other industry leaders, Dell continues to be the leading provider of data protection appliances and software globally.ⁱⁱⁱ Dell offers one of the industry’s most comprehensive portfolios for cyber resilience at the edge, core data centers and multi-cloud environments, delivered with solutions such as Dell EMC PowerProtect Cyber Recovery and Dell EMC PowerScale with Superna Eyeglass Ransomware Defender.

New software and managed services offerings include: 

• Dell EMC PowerProtect Data Manager adds Transparent Snapshots to give organizations a new and unique way to help protect their VMware VMs at scale. By simplifying and automating VM image-level backups and requiring less infrastructure, Transparent Snapshots deliver up to five times faster backups and up to a five-time reduction in VM latency ^iv, helping organizations ensure availability of VM data effectively and efficiently. 
• Dell EMC PowerProtect appliances with Smart Scale helps organizations manage multiple data protection appliances at exabyte scale, allowing IT staff to make informed decisions about their capacity needs and keep up with data growth. With Smart Scale, customers can configure multiple appliances as a single pool giving them the ability to see and manage large data sets in one entity—as many as 32 PowerProtect appliances and more than three exabytes of logical capacity. Organizations can maximize resources and save costs with proactive monitoring and simplified management of backup data.
• Dell Technologies Managed Services for Cyber Recovery Solution helps organizations drive consistent operations and reduce risk of data loss by having Dell experts manage day-to-day cyber recovery vault operations and support recovery activities. These managed services build on Dell's portfolio of cyber recovery consulting, deployment, and support services, helping customers protect and manage this critical capability.

“Transparent Snapshots in PowerProtect Data Manager simplifies backing up our virtual machines using less infrastructure and without impact to the production environment. By removing the need to deploy or manage proxies to move data, our virtual machines can be backed up faster, saving us time,” said Drew Hills, infrastructure analyst, IT Systems, Information Technology, USC Australia.

“We are pleased to see Dell Technologies deliver the Transparent Snapshots innovation in PowerProtect Data Manager to help our mutual customers simplify and speed data protection,” said Lee Caswell, vice president, marketing, Cloud Platform Business Unit, VMware.

“As ransomware and other cyberattacks continue to evolve so does the need to outpace these threats with innovation,” said Phil Goodwin, research vice president, IDC. “Dell Technologies’ new advancements in software and services are designed to help organizations increase their ability to recover business critical data from a cyberattack with the least amount of disruption.”

Availability

• Dell EMC PowerProtect Data Manager with Transparent Snapshots will be globally available this quarter at no additional cost to customers with existing maintenance contracts.
• Dell EMC PowerProtect appliances with Smart Scale is in technology preview today and is expected to be globally available in 1H 2022.
• Dell Technologies Managed Services for Cyber Recovery Solutions are available globally today.

Additional resources

• Visit the 2021 Dell Technologies Global Data Protection Index Snapshot for an infographic and links to previous year’s findings
• Dell Technologies Blog: A New Dawn for Data Protection Innovation
• Learn More about Modern Cyber Security for Enhanced IT Resiliency Security Solutions
• Gauge Your Cyber Resiliency with the Dell Technologies Cyber Resiliency Assessment

^{i IDC Survey, IDC's 2021 Ransomware Study: Where You Are Matters!, August 2021.
ii Based on Dell Technologies analysis, June 2021​
iii Based on combined revenue in 2021 Q1 from IDC’s Quarterly Purpose Built Backup Appliance Tracker, 2021 Q1 with select Storage Software segments from the IDC WW Storage Software and Cloud Services QView, 2021 Q1
iv PowerProtect Data Manager 19.9 with Transparent Snapshots backup performance and VM latency performance compared to PowerProtect Data Manger with VADP backup performance and VM latency performance. Based on Dell internal testing, August 2021.}