Grand Canyon University Opts for Pillar

Pillar Data Systems announced
that Grand Canyon University (GCU) selected the Pillar Axiom storage
system as the platform to efficiently manage data in its current IT
infrastructure. With guided maintenance and ease of management, the
Pillar Axiom has helped the university achieve better data center
efficiencies and time savings, while helping its IT administrators with
long-term disaster recovery planning.

With
15,000 enrolled students both on campus and online, the private
university is anticipating continued growth in both the faculty and
student body.  Due to this expansion, GCU was looking for the right
SAN-based solution to scale up for its back end office needs. After
evaluating several vendors, GCU chose Pillar for its user-friendliness
and ability to integrate easily with other solutions. The university
deployed two Axioms – one for their back office, which houses their
Datatel solution and tracks student and financial information.  The
second Axiom was deployed to store the Angel application, a service
that students utilize for online courses.

“With
a limited IT staff and growing student population, it was essential for
us to get a storage system that was cost effective and easy to
implement and scale, while giving us the flexibility to integrate with
our current online applications,” said Mike Lacrosse, CIO of Grand
Canyon University. “Also, a main priority for us was to grow the
physical IT infrastructure so that we could execute a solid business
continuity and disaster recovery plan.  We were able to achieve all of
this with the Pillar Axiom.”

Since its
initial implementation, GCU has now standardized completely on Pillar.
As a result, the university has achieved greater storage efficiencies
and a long-term disaster recovery plan. In terms of their return on
investment, GCU is able to point to an extraordinary amount of time
savings when deploying and managing the Axiom. For instance, Pillar was
able to work with Sysix, Sun, and Datatel to quickly deploy the
tracking system and expand it into other platforms. Additionally, since
transitioning from a Direct Attached Storage (DAS) environment to a
networked Pillar storage system, GCU has seen a huge increase in
uptime.

Pillar Data Systems

Grand Canyon University