Webair With EMC Isilon

EMC Corporation announced that Webair Internet Development, Inc., in web hosting and managed services for companies of all sizes, has deployed EMC Isilon scale-out NAS to provide its clients with scaled cloud storage.

The Isilon X-Series was deployed to replace its legacy storage systems, which were costly to acquire and cumbersome to maintain. As Webair’s customer base and big data storage needs grew, the company needed an easier, more flexible and cost-effective storage infrastructure. By implementing EMC Isilon, Webair is saving money and offering more flexible, automated storage services to clients.  

Customer Benefits:

• Costs – Webair was able to eliminate 100 legacy storage systems in its data center, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital expenditures as well as in electricity and other costs.
• Flexible storage services for clients – Webair clients pay only for the storage they use and can increase capacity as needed, which saves them money and makes client offerings more competitive.
• Performance – Isilon outperformed the legacy storage systems, especially when processing large client files such as streaming video.
• Scalability – Scale-out architecture and software enables to manage an increase of hundreds of terabytes every year with no additional staff required.

Customer Challenges and Solution:
Prior to the deployment of the Isilon-based Webair Cloud Storage Service, each Webair client was provided a dedicated storage system. To accomplish full redundancy, standby appliances and more complex configurations were often required. This legacy configuration created additional management overhead and resource requirements, given the large number of storage systems Webair had deployed. Once Webair converted clients to its new Cloud Storage Service, built on an Isilon infrastructure, the company was able to remove the capacity and speed limitations associated with standalone systems, reduce data center power and cooling draw, and provide clients with a more scalable and redundant solution, thus reducing customers’ costs and its own operating expenses.

In September 2008, Webair rolled out its first Isilon deployment. Webair was among the first to take advantage of Isilon support for Virtual LANs (VLANs). VLANs enabled Webair to segment storage for each client for security and privacy purposes. With Isilon’s scaling and pay-as-you-grow model, Webair’s clients only pay for the capacity they use, which can be increased as needed.

Isilon X-Series, along with Isilon SmartQuotas and SmartConnect, has simplified storage management for both Webair and its clients. Webair developed its own custom API to run on top of the Isilon system and management tools. Webair’s customized configuration enables the company to automatically add and delete clients, and lets clients increase cloud storage capacities or restore from a snapshot without requiring support from Webair. Webair is also able to automatically invoice clients based on their cloud storage usage.

Sagi Brody, CTO, Webair, said: "EMC Isilon provides us with increased functionality so that we can match the right storage solution to the specific client use case. Clients no longer need to invest in dedicated  storage systems based on growth projections. Instead, they can order a cloud server from Webair with the CPU, memory, and storage resources they need, pay only for what they use today, and scale easily. Clients get the performance and capacity that a dedicated storage system would give them, along with the benefits of having that system securely in the cloud. They experience the best of both worlds."

Sam Grocott, VP of marketing, EMC Isilon, said: "Web hosting and cloud services are extremely competitive industries. By deploying EMC Isilon for its storage infrastructure, Webair is staying one step ahead of competitors. They’ve significantly reduced their CapEx and other costs while giving clients secure, reliable, scale-out cloud storage. It’s a win for both Webair and its clients."

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