DataCore Increases Partnership With Interware in Canada

DataCore Software announced that one of its partners – Interware Systems – has made DataCore storage virtualization software the cornerstone of its Total Enterprise Virtualization practice.

Historically focusing on network security, Interware Systems has grown into a total solutions provider that now focuses on selling and implementing virtualization solutions with the goal of getting companies to embrace Total Enterprise Virtualization. A number of recent customers, as evidenced by The State Group, have served as prime examples of this trend. Interware Systems is also a Microsoft Gold Partner, an enterprise partner of VMware, Citrix XenPartner and is partnered with several other leading technology companies. Interware Systems now offers the only DataCore Authorized Training Center in the Canada, located in Toronto.
 
“DataCore has enabled us to get our foot in the door with a lot of SMB customers,” said Lak Gill, vice president, Interware Systems. “As opposed to hardware-based SANs, which cost tens of thousands of dollars, we can now provide these SMBs with low-cost SAN solutions, priced as low as $1,000. And with that as the foundation, we can upgrade these customers later on – enabling their infrastructures to grow as their companies grow.” Interware has customers throughout North America and is responsible for several new DataCore accounts, including The State Group, Covenant House Toronto, Vulcain Inc, Tempest Management Corp and Caisse Centrale Desjardins, among others. Based in Toronto, Interware Systems have been in business since 1984.
 
A Total Enterprise Virtualization Business Practice and a Newly Launched Total Enterprise Virtualization Web Site From Interware Systems
Interware’s managed service competency is Total Enterprise Virtualization, which spans four different modules and includes products from DataCore Software, VMware, Citrix and Microsoft. DataCore storage virtualization is the first module and as such it serves as the foundation for the entire Total Enterprise Virtualization solution offered by Interware. The second module comprises VMware or Citrix in order to provide server virtualization. The third module consists of the application virtualization (VDI or Terminal Service) and consists of either VMware, Citrix or Microsoft. The fourth and final module of Interware’s TEV solution encompasses a remote replication/disaster recovery site using DataCore asynchronous mirroring.
 
“As one can see DataCore Virtual Storage provides the robust foundation upon which the other modules of our TEV solution are built,” said Lak Gill, vice president, Interware Systems. “Even at the top most layer, DataCore serves to cap off the entire solution by providing the key component for the disaster recovery module. Thus with regards to Total Enterprise Virtualization, we fundamentally believe DataCore is the key in enabling the other industry leading components to perform to their best.”
 
According to James E. Price III, Vice President, Product and Channel Marketing, DataCore Software, “The real benefit to customers of this ‘module approach’ is that companies that may have some virtual servers can readily benefit as Interware will plug DataCore in underneath their current infrastructure and add other modules as needed. This also allows companies that engage with Interware the flexibility to approach Total Enterprise Virtualization in stages (i.e. modules) so they do not have to invest in an entire, end-to-end solution upfront.”
 
Interware is an authorized reseller of all DataCore products, including the full line of DataCore’s SANmelody-based storage virtualization products, SANmelody, DataCore’s SANsymphony, as well as the company’s continuous data protection (CDP) solution, Traveller. All of these solutions include thin provisioning ‘virtual capacity,’ a DataCore-pioneered innovation that automates “just in time” capacity allocation to optimize storage utilization.
 
Making Total Enterprise Virtualization a Reality at The State Group
Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, The State Group is one of North America’s leading multi-trade contractors that has been providing comprehensive Electrical and Mechanical Services on a single source basis for over 40 years. The State Group needed a solution to essentially manage their storage, to back up storage easily and to replicate their data for high-availability and business continuity. Overcoming their existing challenges on the data storage front led The State Group to recognize that they needed a SAN solution. What convinced the company to go with DataCore were the inherent benefits to SANmelody – the ease-of-use, the thin provisioning, the high availability, plus the fact that because the DataCore solution is portable software, they did not have to buy a high cost, hardware-centric SAN.
 
“The foundation for our realizing Total Enterprise Virtualization is DataCore’s SANmelody,” stated Ralph Marascio, IT Manager, The State Group. “Now, we have fully virtualized our infrastructure. It is easy to create new servers if we need them because everything is virtualized and running on SANmelody.” Currently, SANmelody supports the company’s existing systems, its remote, Citrix application servers as well as their new deployment of VMware servers. SANmelody did more than enable back-ups for The State Group; it became the first step to going down the path of Total Enterprise Virtualization.
 

For an overview of Interware’s Total Enterprise Virtualization solution