Hoefer Wysocki Architects Uses DataCore’s SANmelody

DataCore Software announced that Hoefer
Wysocki Architects has selected and deployed DataCore’s SANmelody as
their storage area network (SAN). Hoefer Wysocki Architects is a
mid-size architectural firm, which had maintained a steady headcount of
35-40 employees for a number of years running. Brenda Dvorak, IT
Director, was initially trying to solve the data storage issue with
more hardware. The whole business of archiving what the firm needed to
save data-wise got to be a real hassle for Dvorak. Then in 2006 the
firm won Kansas City’s Small Business of the Year award and shortly
thereafter the firm quickly doubled in size. The more jobs that the
firm landed meant an increase in the number of files employees were
generating as well as larger files and a larger data storage problem.

“In
terms of deploying a SAN, during the span of six months the partners
went from ‘Absolutely not, we are not going to spend that much money’
to ‘Let’s do whatever you need,’” said Dvorak. “We were at the size
that we needed to put something in place that would allow us to grow
and not have to add hardware all the time and essentially throw away
what we already had.” In terms of past work experience, Dvorak came
from a SAN environment – a hardware SAN environment. She was well
versed in the cost difference between the two. Even with the knowledge
that the software route was far less expensive, it helped that DataCore
partner The Mirazon Group could more fully make the case for a software
SAN.

Barry Martin, partner at The Mirazon Group, presented
the whole vision of storage virtualization. “I really did like the
idea,” commented Dvorak. “Rather than spend $70,000 on a piece of
hardware, I could spend far less going with a software SAN and use some
of the existing hardware that I had. That’s the reason we went the way
we did.” While Hoefer Wysocki looked at other SAN solutions, the firm
went upon the recommendation of DataCore’s partner in choosing
SANmelody. “Moreover, we could put in another SANmelody solution very
easily and still be under what we would have paid for a true hardware
SAN,” added Dvorak.

While Hoefer Wysocki did purchase some
new equipment to support its VMware implementation, chiefly new Dell
servers that have been deployed to serve as host servers, the firm has
been able to use existing hard drives in conjunction with the SANmelody
deployment. SANmelody runs on two of the firm’s existing, yet very
powerful, Dell servers and performs primarily as a disk server to
provide virtual capacity. Disk chassis hook onto these for additional
storage.

Currently,
Hoefer Wysocki Architects many types of documents and data. These
include blueprint and design work files and typical Word, Excel and
email correspondence files. However, the larger files come from the
drafting software in the form of AutoCAD files. Prior to SANmelody, the
firm had separate servers for various job functions, whereby project
managers had utilized certain servers and the marketing staff relied
upon others. “These were both out of space before we went virtual,”
noted Dvorak. The firm leverages iSCSI in their implementation, which
Dvorak applauds both for its price and for its speed.

“I
have the luxury of being able to forget about SANmelody, because it
just works in the background as it should,” concluded Dvorak. “Now, I
do not have to constantly monitor disk space. Has it made my life
easier? Absolutely. We have been using it for almost six months and it
has never failed. That is huge for me.”

“Mirazon believes in
delivering solutions to our customers that make sense,” said Barry
Martin, partner, The Mirazon Group.  “We never deliver a solution to
our customers that we would not spend our own money on or use in our
own environment.  The SANmelody solution makes sense on so many fronts.
The most powerful aspect of SANmelody is that it enables a customer to
utilize all of the enterprise features of a virtualized server and
storage environment.”

The firm has also just deployed a
replication SAN, based on SANmelody, which serves as an onsite, backup
SAN. While the additional SAN replicates the current SAN as is
co-located in the same IT room, in the future the firm will utilize the
software to do full disaster recovery offsite. Interestingly, DataCore
partner, solution provider The Mirazon Group, is located in Louisville,
Kentucky, while Hoefer Wysocki Architects are in Kansas City, Missouri.
The SAN installation was able to happen remotely. How many other
companies can install a SAN remotely? To Dvorak, with hands-on
experience using hardware SANs, this is very significant. “Hardware SAN
vendors cannot remote-in,” she commented.

Not
only did SANmelody solve Hoefer Wysocki’s storage issues right away,
but the SAN meant that Dvorak could better leverage the VMware virtual
machines that they were also implementing. “We did everything at once
in terms of going virtual,” noted Dvorak. “I needed to both minimize
all of my hardware and add storage. That is really hard to do with a
hardware SAN.” By going virtual, Dvorak was able to retire a lot of the
hardware and has far more space in the IT room to show for it. This was
more important than one might first imagine. First, the IT “room” is
about the size of a closet. Second, what previously filled the racks
and took up all the existing space in the room generated a great deal
of heat. Less hardware means less power and energy costs too. Dvorak
also has far more space as the amount of servers occupying the racks
has been greatly reduced after “going virtual.”

Hoefer
Wysocki Architects

DataCore
Software

The Mirazon Group