Shopzilla Deployed F5 File Virtualization

F5 Networks, Inc. announced that Shopzilla, a shopping search site, has deployed F5 Acopia ARX intelligent file virtualization systems as the foundation of its file storage management strategy. Shopzilla is leveraging the F5 Acopia ARX system’s unrivaled data migration, global namespace, and data replication capabilities in order to maintain fast response times and uninterrupted access for its more than 20 million unique visitors each month.

Faced with a major network-attached storage (NAS) upgrade spanning multiple vendor platforms, Shopzilla utilized the F5 Acopia ARX system to migrate files without incurring downtime and without the need to manually reconfigure client systems and applications. Once installed, Shopzilla’s VP, Technology, Burzin Engineer, recognized that the ARX system could help the company meet additional challenges, and Shopzilla began utilizing the F5 Acopia ARX system for its global namespace capabilities and data replication as well.  

“Every day Shopzilla helps millions of customers find virtually everything for sale on the web, at the best price, with the click of a mouse,” said Engineer. “We also operate BizRate, which collects more than one million new consumer reviews of stores and products each month. Needless to say, our data storage requirements are immense. We recently underwent a significant data migration initiative with the goal of upgrading our NAS systems to store our most critical files, while retaining the lower performing systems for less accessed, less critical data. Anyone that has been through this process knows how complicated, time-consuming, and resource draining it can be. However, by leveraging the F5 Acopia ARX solution and its global namespace capabilities, we were able to easily view and access all our files regardless of where the data was located or what operating system was supporting it.”

Today Shopzilla uses the F5 Acopia ARX systems’ global namespace capabilities to mask the complexity of the physical file server environment underlying Shopzilla’s websites, as well optimize the performance for its millions of web visitors. Additionally, the ARX systems’ data replication capabilities enable Shopzilla to replicate files across heterogeneous storage devices—meaning replicas do not have to reside on the same type of storage device as the source files. These replicas can be accessed in a read-only fashion to ensure availability, but can also be quickly promoted to a read/write status in the event of a failure, data loss, or disaster.

Engineer concluded, “Bottom line, the F5 Acopia ARX system has allowed us to maintain the outstanding user experience our shoppers have come to expect, while controlling costs and dramatically improving ROI.”

“Shopzilla operates an enterprise data center that rivals the largest and most sophisticated data centers in the world,” said Christopher Lynch, SVP of Data Solutions at F5. “With F5 Acopia, Shopzilla is recognizing dramatic savings in both capital expenditures and operational expense while improving service levels and throughput. We are proud to add this exciting company to our impressive group of enthusiastic enterprise customers.”