StorMagic Provides Storage to University of Wisconsin

StorMagic, a fast-growing developer of iSCSI SAN management software, announced that the University of Wisconsin Center for Health Systems Research and Analysis has chosen the StorMagic SM Series, an iSCSI-based Storage Area Network (SAN) solution designed specifically for small and medium organizations. The iSCSI solution from StorMagic brings enterprise-level capabilities to the center’s infrastructure while allowing it to grow over time without the added complexity and higher cost of the other storage solutions available on the market today.

The center works frequently with large existing data sets containing Medicare, Medicaid and, occasionally, private insurance company claims information to study quality of care in Wisconsin and beyond. In his role as director of information systems at the Center for Health Systems Research and Analysis at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Richard Ross has done extensive research into data storage options for the center’s applications and databases.

“We had been using a Dell storage area network with about 3 TB of usable space,” said Ross. “We installed that system in 2001 with 3 TB, but it eventually became very undependable. The vendor offered to let us exchange it for an EMC CX400 at an affordable price. The EMC SAN worked well, and we never had a problem with it, but it had far more features than we needed, and once the initial service contract expired, it would have been extremely expensive to renew. Also, since the sale price didn’t cover expansion, any growth in the system would have been prohibitively expensive as well.”

For that reason, the EMC system has remained at its original 3 TB installed size. Now that is five years old and no longer under warranty, Ross has transitioned it to what he calls 'secondary storage.' This includes development applications, and archived file and print operations. “Unfortunately, the EMC system has become too costly to maintain, so we are phasing it out,” he said. In preparation for that transition, the center has installed an iSCSI-based system from StorMagic.

“Our data is important to us, but we are not an enterprise-level shop,” stated Ross. “For that, we would have to be a lot bigger and have a lot more money. We got our taste of enterprise-grade storage and complexity with the EMC system, and decided it was too costly for us to justify. StorMagic’s iSCSI SAN seems like the perfect solution for us.”

Sikich LLP of Aurora, Ill., coordinated the acquisition process, provided the hardware, and on-site support during the installation. “We installed the StorMagic system and found that we could achieve read/write speeds equivalent to those of the EMC SAN,” said Ross. “We are planning to use the system’s ability to automate migration. We also like the capability of automatically expanding LUNs when a user-set threshold is passed. It reduces the need to manage on a day-to-day basis. We will just set the thresholds and let the system grow automatically.”

Ross is happy with his choice. “If things continue to go well, we will phase out the EMC system before summer and run everything on StorMagic, which will simplify our operations. We like what we see in the StorMagic system and have high expectations for its future here,” he added.