Front Porch Abandons VMware and NetApp

Gridstore, Inc., in software-defined storage (SDS) optimized for Windows Servers and Hyper-V, announced that Front Porch Digital, Inc., a Sonora California-based provider of ISP software and services, has chosen its storage technology allowing them to utilize the technology that is capable of handling vast amounts of data while delivering the performance and still being mindful of the bottom line.

 “At Front Porch, it is important that we keep current technologically. We looked at our previous, long-time vendor, and the cost for maintenance alone was going to be an expensive proposition,” said Martin Strong, director of network operations, Front Porch. “That got us thinking and looking for a new solution. We saw an article and then a white paper about Gridstore. We thought it looked like an interesting approach.“

Front Porch had utilized storage technology from its previous vendor for the past decade. At the time of Front Porch’s maintenance renewal, the costs were high for both the NetApp storage and their VMware environment. The financial bottom line was a key driving force in Front Porch’s decision to look at and give Hyper-V and Gridstore a test drive. Front Porch made the move away from VMware to a Hyper-V solution implemented on a new hardware platform including three clustered Dell 910s and five Gridstore performance nodes in a single site installation, supporting IT operations within the company. Front Porch first took the proposed configuration through a test, where early on it was apparent that if the storage load was moved to the Gridstore environment, performance was going to improve.

Straw added: “When we made the switch to Gridstore it was at a cost that was less than what we would have had to pay for maintenance alone with our previous NetApp/VMware configuration.“

Front Porch realized benefits from the Gridstore implementation:

• New, higher capacity, lower cost storage at a price point that was less than the maintenance renewal of VMware + NetApp
• Easy-to-deploy solution and support from Gridstore
• Gridstore’s storage delivered increased performance as well

“Gridstore is a solution that worked well out of the box and has provided us with great value in its acquisition costs alone. We calculate the Gridstore system will pay for itself in a year,” concluded Straw.