NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP vs. vBoxxCloud

NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP was well suited to begin our journey to cloud storage as a service. The ease and intuitiveness of the product to enable our administrators to design, configure, and deploy the storage in a hybrid cloud environment was instrumental to the success and the early adoption of the service.

See advantages and disadvantages [below].

• Simplicity
• Flexibility
• Cost savings

• Service. You can mail, chat and call them and they always make time for the questions.
• Their servers are located in the Netherlands.
• Administrator interface
• Reports

• More competitive pricing at lower volumes of storage
• Make it possible to manage storage across hybrid and multiple cloud environments

• To use vBoxx you have an interface as administrator. To add a user, you have to use another interface.
• When you are accessing your files via the web (not via the sync folder on your laptop, pc or tablet), you have to download and upload the file, you can't change it without downloading it. Unless I don't know [how to do] it.

We utilized NetApp remote Professional Services to assist in our deployment and also engaged support since the deployment for assistance regarding some networking concerns. NetApp support was surprisingly quick to reply and very proactive in resolving our concerns much quicker than other support personnel from many of our other vendors we use. No complaints about NetApp support at this time.

Never expected to receive this kind of service as a small company.

ScienceLogic SL1 and SolarWinds Storage Resource Monitor (SRM) were the closest competitors to meeting our business objectives. Tivoli Storage Manager was not able to meet the initial requirements. There was a significant overlap of capabilities between ScienceLogic SL1, SolarWinds SRM, and NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP. The latter provided a more positive and cohesive experience for our administrators and executives.

Not used but evaluated: Dropbox (not secure enough + American servers) Google (not secure enough + American servers) OneDrive (not secure enough + American servers) Tresorit (is secure and has European servers) VBoxx won because of the availability by mail, chat and phone. That is the only thing that counts during emergencies.

• Not really any noticeable impact yet
• We are utilizing the free tier that is provided as a promotion with current systems
• It remains to be seen if it will continue to be enough value to renew the subscription

• Too soon to say