SoftLayer Powers Enterprise Cloud Services With Isilon IQ

Isilon Systems, Inc. announced that SoftLayer has deployed Isilon scale-out NAS to power its enterprise cloud infrastructure, providing global, on-demand data center and hosting services for thousands of customers.

SoftLayer Network and Facilities

Using Isilon IQ, featuring its OneFS operating system, SoftLayer has unified all of its file-based cloud operations onto a single, high performance, highly scalable, shared pool of storage, streamlining data management and increasing efficiency across three different, geographically disparate data center facilities. With Isilon scale-out NAS, SoftLayer can scale its storage resources in lockstep with customer demand, reducing capital expenditures while delivering more robust, flexible and responsive services to its worldwide customer base.

"Our cloud services address customers’ need for enterprise-class data center resources, meaning our network, servers and storage must always be available on-demand," said Jacob Linscott, director of IT systems, SoftLayer. "Isilon IQ fits the bill perfectly – an easy-to-use single file system that allows us to buy what we need, when we need it, and then scale capacity and performance in-line with business growth. With Isilon, we’ve improved service functionality and flexibility without having to add any headcount."

SoftLayer’s global, on-demand data center and hosting services deliver fully automated solutions from facilities across the United States, providing enterprises with complete access, control, security and scalability. Prior to deploying Isilon IQ, SoftLayer’s traditional SAN system was incapable of cost-effectively scaling to meet the high I/O and data growth requirements of its rapidly expanding customer base, preventing SoftLayer from fully capitalizing on market demand. By deploying Isilon scale-out NAS, SoftLayer’s cloud infrastructure can now service a broad spectrum of enterprise applications – including server and desktop virtualization, highly transactional workloads and disaster recovery – improving its ability to address mainstream data center requirements. With Isilon IQ, SoftLayer has unified all of its file-based cloud operations onto a single, easy-to-use, "pay as you grow" file system, decreasing both capital and operational expenditures, while accelerating business growth.

"As businesses enlist cloud service providers to reduce costs and increase efficiency, the providers’ most immediate challenge is how best to manage the rapid data growth and high performance requirements of their expanding customer base," said Sam Grocott, vice president of marketing, Isilon Systems. "SoftLayer is setting the example for enterprise cloud services by using Isilon scale-out NAS to broaden its service offering, minimize costs and maximize its market opportunity."