DataCore Software, the industry’s premier provider of storage virtualization software, today announced that Derby Supply Chain Solutions has selected DataCore’s SANsymphony–V storage hypervisor for its comprehensive storage virtualization management needs. DataCore’s virtual storage platform provides Derby with an unparalleled level of business continuity – making the supply chain solutions vendor’s goal of non-stop business operations a reality.

"The biggest benefit that we have experienced with SANsymphony-V is business continuity that has enabled our organization to consolidate and virtualize the bulk of our server infrastructure," stated Joshua Taylor, senior systems administrator at Derby Supply Chain Solutions. "Prior to embracing DataCore's storage hypervisor-based solution for storage virtualization, our server infrastructure was on aging hardware and was therefore very unreliable. Our users have definitely experienced much better uptime and continuity than what they had experienced previously without DataCore."

Beyond the high availability, Derby also reports that it has attained a new level of investment protection and greater utilization of their storage resources – all because they chose to virtualize their storage the right way, with DataCore’s device independent software-based storage hypervisor SANsymphony-V.

Derby Supply Chain Solutions delivers supply chain solutions for assembly, packaging, warehousing and distribution to companies of all sizes, including global enterprises like Whirlpool, GE, Volvo, Mack, Godiva, and more. Derby is a complete third party logistics solution, providing its customers with the ability to streamline their assembly, packaging, warehousing and distribution processes. Derby works collaboratively with its customers to develop innovative, effective and scalable solutions. The company offers physical warehousing and logistics services as well as software solutions that enable customers to view and in some cases, control how their products move through the supply chain.

According to Taylor, a "day in the life" prior to DataCore was one that included far too many disparate systems, with data strewn onto almost every device possible. There was no easy-to-use backup solution, and trying to manage storage was "a nightmare." Taylor said the IT system’s lack of redundancy caused "almost daily" problems at the company, particularly with the aging hardware that was in place at the time.

“Derby Supply Chain Solutions looked at other options from EMC and Dell before choosing DataCore,” commented Taylor. “However, after researching SANsymphony-V and seeing the cost-to-performance benefits and the total cost of ownership compared to those other solutions, we knew that DataCore was the best option.”

The Mirazon Group, an IT solutions provider and prolific DataCore partner, understood Derby Supply Chain Solutions’ IT objectives. They implemented DataCore’s storage hypervisor technology at Derby – ensuring that the overall project was a success and transforming the existing network into the virtualized infrastructure that Derby needed.

Seamless business continuity with DataCore storage virtualization

With DataCore’s SANsymphony-V storage hypervisor, Taylor said that end users at Derby Supply Chain Solutions have experienced a much higher level of uptime and continuity than was previously available. Because a number of the servers at Derby are legacy servers, Taylor and team are in the process of phasing these out in favor of newer systems. In order to do so, they have deployed virtual machines to seamlessly move systems off legacy servers, without interruption. The three main VMware ESX hosts that currently support 36 VMs are running on Dell™ PowerEdge™ R805 Servers.

The power of software: SANsymphony-V storage hypervisor is defined by freedom, flexibility and ease of use

In addition to overall reliability, Taylor praised DataCore’s storage hypervisor for having the benefits associated with software-as-infrastructure, particularly ease of implementation and use. "I have seen first-hand the software advantage that DataCore brings to its users. While perhaps not self-evident until you have the storage virtualization software deployed, it is very similar to what you get through server virtualization software by way of freedom and flexibility. Moreover, in terms of storage management interfaces and management tools I have dealt with in the past, DataCore's software-based approach to storage virtualization through its storage hypervisor is easier to implement and manage than anything I have been exposed to before. Other interfaces for storage appliances can be clumsy and non-intuitive. The interface from DataCore makes storage management much, much easier."

For this and other testimonials of DataCore’s industry-leading storage hypervisor, please visit: Customer Snapshot: Derby Supply Chain Solutions.